The Worst Ever Practical Joke
by camnz
Summary: Hermione wakes up in an inn room next to a sleeping Lucius Malfoy, not something she ever intended.
1. Chapter 1

The Best Practical Joke Ever

Hermione felt a tingling like the final retreat of anaesthesia and slowly opened her eyes. As she considered the odd sensation she realised that she was not in her apartment. Further confused, she sat up and realised she was in some kind of inn; a room looking a lot like one of the Leaky Cauldron rooms. About the same time as she realised she was naked, she also realised that there was a man lying next to her. For a brief second, she thought that maybe she and Ron had made up after their split two years ago. The man next to her wasn't Ron and the long blond hair indicated that it couldn't be anyone other than Lucius Malfoy; naked and lying in a bed next to her.

She scrambled out of the bed like it had just turned into hot lava, dragging the white sheet with her in the process. In absolute horror, she stared back at the figure in the bed. Maybe it was just someone else messing with her by wearing a wig, maybe it was Halloween and someone had dressed up as the notorious Death Eater. That still wouldn't explain why they were naked in a bed next to her.

She tip toed around the bed and was shocked when she could see that it really was him. Some memories came flooding back to confirm that she had indeed been intimate with Lucius Malfoy. Nausea threatened to overcome her and her hand flew to her mouth as she fought not to throw up. Nothing explains this. She must be having a nightmare.

She quickly looked around and found her skirt and bra lying in a dusty corner of the room. There was no sight of any of her other clothes, or her shoes. She slipped on her clothes as fast as her panicked hands would allow and left the room. Her skirt was on inside out and she was running down the corridor in her bra. Well, if this was a dream, what did it matter. She ran down the stairs and out of the Leaky Cauldon into muggle London. It was early but light, so thankfully there was not a lot of people around to see her mad dash.

Hermione ran all the way back to her apartment. She realised she could have just apparated, but her panic didn't allow for such logic. As she got to her door, she realised she didn't have her wand. Where was her wand? Why didn't she check for it? If Death Eaters had stormed into the room, it would have been her first thought. A naked one and she lost all sense of rationality.

She dug around in one of the flower pots for her spare key and let herself inside. After a few seconds of standing in her kitchen, not knowing what to do, she headed for her shower.

The hot shower didn't seem to sooth her. She stood in the shower until the hot water ran out, scrubbing her skin and hair. In the process more memories returned about their time together. They'd had sex like they were starving and it had gone on for ages. He hadn't forced her, she had been as much a willing participant as he. She just could understand why. She had even gone down on him, which she had not done to anyone before. They had done things she would have slapped Ron for suggesting. She tried to get his smell off her skin and his taste out of her mouth. The analytical part of her brain mused on the concept that he had a smell and a taste, she never considered that he would. She had never really grasped that he was a true human being, just a cold, aristocratic pureblood with ice in his veins.

She shivered violently as she got out of the now cold shower. She dressed in the warmest sweats she had and ached for a hot cup of tea. She froze at the sound of heavy knocking on the door. Panic was starting to overtake her when she heard Ginny yelling at her to open up. Relief flooded her, but she still didn't want to open the door. Instead she wanted to curl up in her bed and never emerge.

Ginny wouldn't go away, so eventually Hermione had to open the door.

"What the hell?!?" Ginny yelled with an incredulous look on her face.

Hermione didn't know what to say and just stood there looking equally shocked. She guessed it was too late to hope it had all been a bad dream.

"I don't ..." Hermione started, but couldn't find anything to say. Finally finishing, "I don't know what happened".

"Lucius Malfoy?! What were you thinking?"

"I don't know how it happened!" Hermione said pleadingly. "I remember it, but I don't remember how it happened. How did you know?"

"Everyone knows! I didn't see it, but apparently you two put on quite a show at the Solstice Dinner. It's been all over the papers." Ginny continues while Hermione whinced. "Apparently Narcissa Malfoy was not amused. Have you been seeing him?"

"No!!" Hermione yelled. "Oh my God, I am so completely mortified."

"Well," Ginny said, dropping her handbag on the kitchen counter, "How was it?"

"Ginny!!" Hermione yelled at Ginny's amused expression. Then after a few seconds of not knowing what to say, " Oh Merlin, what am I going to do? I can't believe this has happened."

"Neither can Harry." Ginny said watching Hermione's increasingly horrified expression. "Ron is absolutely livid."

Hermione covered her face with her hands and dropped down into a chair.

"Were you drunk?"

"What?"

"At the dinner, the solstice dinner? No. I guess that would not explain why you were with him for three days. He certainly didn't force you from what I hear. Maybe he imperied you." Ginny said thinking out loud.

"Three days? It was three days? Oh, my god." Hermione said as her nausea returned.

"It must have been a love potion."

"A love potion? Why? Why would he do that?" Hermione stammered. "To publicly humiliate me?"

"No, it doesn't follow. I can't see him making out with a Mudblood, sorry, thinking in his terms, publically as something that would do him any favours. I mean a relationship with a mudblood may not be bad for his reputation, but not so publically. In the vicinity of his wife, no less."

Hermione panicked at another loud knock on the door. If this is not what Malfoy wanted, maybe he has come to kill her. The thought obviously had not struck Ginny, so she opened the door. It was Kingsley Shacklebolt and one of the wizards from the legal affairs office. The Minister tended to attend personally to anything the ministry needed from one of the Golden Trio.

"Miss Granger. I am not sure how to say this, but it seems that Lucius Malfoy wishes to bring charges against you for using potions on him without his consent."

Hermione's mouth dropped as she heard this. "I didn't." was all she could manage. Ginny handed a cup of something to Hermione and continued the discussion with the Minister and the lawyer. Hermione knew she should be paying attention to the discussion, but she was too pre-occupied trying to keep down whatever it was she was drinking. Memory flashes of Lucius' body were not helping either, along with the knowledge that she had not managed to completely get his taste out of her mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ginny handed her a drink. Something stronger this time. Hermione accepted it and noticed that Shacklebolt and the solicitor were gone.

"I didn't do this! Am I going to be arrested?" Hermione wimpered.

"No. They don't believe you did this. Although the solicitor took some convincing. He strangely seemed to think that it was perfectly understandable why someone would want to slip Lucius Malfoy a love potion. Odd man." Ginny finished.

"Then who would do this? Who would hate me enough to do this?"

"The only one I can think of would be Draco Malfoy, but he would definitely slip you a potion making you googly eyed for him, not his father." Ginny chuckled.

"This isn't funny!" Hermione yelled. "And he would not. Apparently he would rather pash a dementor over me. He told me so fifth year."

"What was it that clever muggle said, 'The lady doth protest too much'." Ginny said teasingly.

"I do not!" Hermione snapped.

"I meant him."

"Oh." Hermione calmed. "No..ehww. I think I am going to be sick." She finished before running off to the bathroom."

"Everyone is protesting, aren't they." Ginny said quietly to herself.

Hermione could hear Harry arriving while she was hiding in the bathroom. She knew that Ginny's lighthearted approach to this crisis was supposed to comfort her, but she could not see anything funny in this situation. She closed her eyes, but it only brought memories of Lucius Malfoy's lips on her neck and hands on her body. Large, warm hands. Her eyes snapped open in an attempt to get rid on the shocking memories.

She returned to her living room where Ginny and Harry was having a quiet conversation. Harry looked concerned and rushed over to embrace her.

"I'm so sorry for you, Hermione." Harry said before returning to the sofa next to Ginny. "It's all over the Ministry too."

Hermione sunk down in a chair defeatedly. A knock on the door revealed Luna, who came over and gave Hermione a little pat on her arm.

"Shacklebolt doesn't have any idea who did this." Ginny said. "He said it could even have been Narcissa. Apparently, she has been seeking grounds for divorce for the last five years. Lucius, it seems, is not ecstatic about parting with some of his fortune to her so he has been a very good boy lately. "

"Poor man." Luna said, while Hermione and Harry looked at her like she had sprouted something out of her ears. "He must be so lonely."

"So this little indiscretion would play right into her hands." Harry questioned.

"How could it be?" Hermione snorted. "It was obviously induced by potion. It will never stand up in court. You know, the muggles would call this rape. I can't believe someone would do this to me."

Harry's eyes softened at Hermione's distress.

"I don't think you were the target. I think Lucius was and there are a lot of people who would like to see him humiliated. I am sure there is a whole bunch of people lining up after Narcissa." Ginny said.

"You can't prove that it was a love potion after the fact." Luna said. "She could claim that it was an affair and it would have to be proven that it was not."

"This can't be happening." Hermione said, attempting to stand up in a vain attempt to flee the situation.

"Surely it can't be that hard to prove that you are not in love with Lucius Malfoy." Harry snorted. "He wouldn't be carrying on with a muggleborn anyway."

"Oh, I don't know." Luna said. "The purebloods' obsession with muggleborns has gone back centuries."

"To kill them, Luna. Not to snuggle up in some seedy hotel room." Hermione snapped.

"Forbidden fruit with pheromones." Ginny teased. "Most of them are so closely related now, they don't respond to eachother's pheromones."

"He is a rich, powerful and attractive wizard with..." Luna said.

"Militant, separatist tendencies who hates mudbloods. What's not to love, really Luna." Hermione finished. "And I am not fruit!"

The topic of conversation gradually shifted to Neville's appointment as a Herbology Professor at Hogwarts and Hermione did not mind the distraction. It allowed her to forget her problems for a while. Although thoughts of her having to eventually leave her apartment and face the world at some point threatened to break through every now and then.

Luna cooked a late lunch and they had a pleasant time in the small garden attached to Hermione's apartment. After the meal was finished, Harry, Ginny and Luna needed to get back to their various activities, it was a weekday after all. Hermione briefly contemplated going to work, but decided that she could not face anyone yet. Instead she decided to sit down and watch a movie. She decided on the latest Transformers movie, something with guns, yelling and explosions. Something that would in no way remind her of the previous three days.

In the early evening, she could barely keep her eyes open. Her nails were bitten down to nothing, which was not a habit she normally partook in. She dreaded closing her eyes, but she could not fight sleep any longer. Asleep she again found herself in the arms of a certain blond man. His lips on her mouth, his enveloping scent and the sounds of his pleasure. Along with her almost pathological craving for him. In her dreams it seemed the most natural thing in the world.

Hermione woke up the next morning knowing full well what she dreamt about last night. She decided her brain was suffering from post traumatic distress forcing her to relive the horrifying events of the last week at every opportunity. She was getting a bit more used to the images invading her mind. She could even grudgingly admit that from a strictly analytical perspective, it may constitute the best sex she's ever had. Although she blamed this completely on the love potion they had been slipped.

She dressed in her most professional looking outfit, which she decided should not give anyone reason to comment. After an attempt as some toast that would not go down, she decided to bite the bullet and flooed to her job at the Ministry. It was right on rush hour and the main hall was busy with people arriving.

It seemed that every eyeball in the hall was following her as she walked towards the elevator. The crowded elevator taking her up to the fourth floor was dead quiet the whole way up. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath until she walked out.

Arriving at her desk, she sat down and quickly smiled at the six other people in the standards section of the International Magical Co-operation department. She had a fairly junior role, but it was a decent job and she was learning constantly. Her direct supervisor, Mr. Jamson was elderly and lovely to her, although he was flighty enough to rival Professor Trelawney, with a comb over that would never stay put. He had worked in the department for nearly 60 years and had moments of astoundingly sharp perception when needed. He was not the most well respected figure at the ministry and he really didn't have much clout, but he kept his section of the department running somehow. Not compared to Lucius, who was still a very powerful figure in the Ministry. If he choose to go after her scalp, probably only Kingsley Shacklebolt could intervene on her part, but she was not completely sure he would. Eventhough she was a war hero, the muggleborn prejudices within the Ministry in general were still strong.

Mr. Jamson called her into his office after a few quiet hours work. Hermione felt her palms sweat as she walked into his office and closed the door.

"I won't ask you about your absence over the last few days." He said quickly to Hermione's relief. "I can understand that you may not want to speak about it."

Hermione nodded her agreement before he continued. "I have an assignment in South America concerning live specimen shipment standards. I was going to send Peaworth as it is an assignment that would normally go to someone a little more experienced, but under the circumstances, you would learn a lot by spending a little time outside of England. How does three weeks in South America sound?"

Hermione could have cried out of appreciation. She accepted the related files and made her way back to her desk after thanking him profusely. The long distance portkey for South America left in the afternoon, so she would only have to last until then. When she came back, hopefully this whole thing would be old news and completely forgotten. She knew that it was complete wishful thinking, but hopefully the shock factor would be gone. It certainly would not die down if she had to prove her absence of feeling for Lucius if the Malfoys were heading into divorce.

If she had not promised Ginny she would meet her for lunch, she would have stayed at the desk. Ginny was meeting her at one of the pubs off Diagon Alley. Hermione kept her head down as much as possible. Turning the corner down Diagon Alley, she saw Draco Malfoy standing down one of the lanes, around 50 metres away, talking to some of his fellow Slytherins. He stopped talking as he saw her and stared coldly at her. Much colder than his usual 'Look I caught a mudblood' grin. Oh, this was not good Hermione thought, before pounding her feet faster down the alley and out of sight of her old school enemy.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Hermione's trip to South America was everything she could have hoped for. The work was challenging, maybe not exciting, but she made headway. She loved the language, the sites and the food. Travel was after all why she sought her way into the International Magical Co-operation department. Her mind had still reminded her of her time with him every time she gave it leeway to run its own course, but thankfully there was plenty of dull details to keep it reined in most of the time.

She wished the project had been longer, while realising that she was on many levels trying to avoid her situation back in the UK. Hermione sighed as the portkey returned her to London. Ginny was waiting for her with a big smile and a welcoming hug. "How was your trip?"

"It was fantastic." Hermione beamed before delving into her experiences over the last three weeks.

The found a small muggle cafe nearby and sat down for a proper catch up. Ginny smiled at her in a way that told her that there was something she needed to know. Hermione realised she could not avoid asking any longer, "And how is the situation here...?"

"Yeah. Better or worse depending on how you look at it." Ginny said.

"So people have not forgotten, then?"

"Nooo." Ginny said in an exaggerated way. Hermione rubbed her temple trying to contemplate what it would mean to her life if people would not let this go. "Well, there is good news and there is bad news. Which do you want first?"

"Don't tease me." Hermione warned.

"Well, the Malfoys are heading for divorce and the good news is that you will not be required to prove in court that you were under the influence of a love potion."

"Has someone confessed? So he is dropping the charges against me? " Hermione said hopefully.

"He has quietly dropped the charges. He now calls you his girlfriend."

"What?!"Hermione spat. "Wha... No, please don't joke with me this way. This is cruel."

"No joke sweets. It seems Lucius has realised that he is despised to the point where no level of proof would release these adultery claims for his divorce proceedings. That long line of people who want to have a swipe at him are having their day. They aren't interested in the truth and probably wouldn't accept it even if you testified under veritaserum. Not that you will even get a chance now. So he had decided that if his innocence won't be accepted then he will do some damage control on his reputation through a relationship with a muggleborn; ie. you."

"I can't believe this. Don't I get a say in anything that happens to me?" Hermione yelled loud enough to draw attention from the other patrons. "I won't put up with this."

They sat quietly while Hermione gathered her thoughts. "How does he expect that I would go along with this? I am not going to be his ... ugh it is too ridiculous to even think about. He can't seriously expect me to go along with this."

Ginny chewed her lip for a while before quietly saying, "I am not sure there is much to go along with. Everyone thinks you're a couple. People have already seen you together at the Solstice dinner."

"But that was under the influence of the Love Potion, surely... I will tell the Daily Prophet."

" Yes, I am sure Rita Skeeter will be very understanding." Ginny said laced with sarcasm. After a while she continued, "Maybe it is just better to let this go. He is obviously going down the 'girlfriend' route, so you will end up being the girl who claim being under a Love Potion to mask hurt feelings during a breakup, or you can be the girl who had a short, yet unsuccessful fling with Lucius Malfoy that quietly ended with no one looking back."

"Are you saying no one would believe me?" Hermione said sharply. "It is Lucius Malfoy for Merlin's sake, like that it even in the range of possibility."

"It is Lucius Malfoy and a lot of people in this society would forgive him in a heartbeat if he made some steps to reform himself." Ginny quietly responded. "People would rather believe what they want to with him, than listen to the truth. If it was anyone else, I would tell you to yell it from the rooftops and the person gave you this potion probably expects you to, but he is still very powerful. You kick up a big fuss and it might come back to bite you."

Hermione's mind ticked into analytical mode as she realised that this situation was much more complex that she had initially thought. Her Gryffindor side bristled at the injustice, but she equally did not want to play into the hands of the person who had arranged this all.

***

Hermione returned to her flat and had a good cry to release some of the tension of the last few weeks. Releasing the shock of waking up in that infernal hotel room, the energy-draining attempts to pretend that everything was fine throughout her trip and the fact that her life was completely out of her control yet again. Not to mention the rather X-rated dreams she was still having.

The next morning brought her no closer to an understanding about what she was going to do about the situation. She dressed and apparated to work. People were still watching her, but the scrutiny was not as intense. She spent the morning debriefing from her trip and her boss, Mr. Jamson, who never made any references about her 'other situation'. Followed by a tense lunch spent with Harry and Ron. Harry tried to lighten the mood, but Ron was terse and sulky throughout.

After lunch she nipped into Gringotts to withdraw some of her wages, but upon leaving the bank she was affronted by a large figure as she turn towards the door. The very man she had been praying to avoid for the over three weeks.

"Miss Granger." Lucius said coolly.

Hermione snapped her mouth shut and quickly found something interesting about the window frame to distract her from the sight in front of her. Her muddled mind registered the scent of his cologne enveloping her, bringing on a reminder of times where there was not this much space between them. Hermione blushed brightly at the memories before stuttering, "I, um ... I hear that... you have been saying some things about me." She finished quickly before looking up into the eyes that were piercing her.

"And what would that be Miss Granger?" He continued in the same cool voice.

Bastard, Hermione thought, he was going to use her embarrassment and bully her into never mentioning this situation. She had never felt this uncomfortable in her life and all she wanted to do was run out the door. She certainly did not want to mention the word girlfriend in case the words might give the ridiculous concept weight. She struggled to find something that sounded neutral, while also noticing the steady hands that known so much of her, "Things about the nature of our relationship."

"Ah, yes, well I do know a lot of very ...intimate things about you." He said almost mockingly.

Bastard, she thought again, while a fresh wave of colour washed over her face. "Um, I have to go." She rushed out as she flung herself out of the door. Bastard, bastard, bastard, she keep saying to herself as she briskly walked back to her office. She wanted to sprint back, but refused the indignity. It was enough that he had practically chased her out of the bank, which wasn't strictly true, but she felt that way. Why did he have to be so damned intimidating. All in black looking like Darth Vader. The comparison amused Hermione, particularly as he would have absolutely no idea who Darth Vader is. And that cold face with the cold expression. What was it about him that made him think he was too good for facial expressions. How dare he mention the intimacies that were not supposed to be. Because by mentioning them, it is obviously clear that he remembers her the same way that she remembers him, and that mortified Hermione. Merlin, she hoped he wasn't having X-rated dreams about her every night.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next week passed without incident and Hermione thanked her lucky stars that she had seen neither hide nor hair of Lucius Malfoy. She was kept busy at work and had dinner with Ginny and Harry one evening even without any mention of 'him'. The odd person asked her about her supposed relationship with Lucius, at which time she clearly pointed out that there was no such relationship existing. There was no way she would go along with this. She was not going be used as his little ticket to reform his well deserved reputation. She even managed to corner Rita Skeeter one afternoon to make her position known. Happy with her decision to set the record straight, she reckoned that this whole ridiculous situation would now just die down.

There was a slight concern in the back of her mind that Lucius Malfoy may not be happy with her denying a relationship between them, but it was the truth and he could just get stuffed if he didn't like it. Hermione was getting her tidy little life back.

Her peace lasted for another four days until one Thursday morning when the piercing stares of her colleagues at the Ministry were back in full force. After quickly checking that she wasn't wearing her breakfast on her face, she guessed that something has happened that she was not going to like. And that tended to involve 'him' at the moment. Her concern grew as she saw part of Lucius' face in the folded up copy of the Daily Prophet held by the man standing in front of her in the elevator. Not good, not good, not good, Hermione repeated to herself throughout the entire ride up to her office.

She swiped a copy of the Daily Prophet of a colleague's desk and set herself down at her desk. She noted a stack of bright red Howler letters in her inbox. After a brief moment of scrunching her eyes together in an attempt to avoid whatever bad was going to accost her in the paper, she gathered her courage and laid the paper out. It took her all of a millisecond to find the offending article. Having been recipient of some of the paper's vile gossip and insinuations over the years, she resigned herself to the familiar feeling of being unfairly attacked. She held her breath as she scanned the article about the Malfoy divorce.

_It is with sadness that this paper has to report the disillusion of the marriage between Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. The divorce was a quick affair breaking up the twenty five year marriage between two of the cornerstone ancient families in wizarding Britain. A sizeable portion of the Malfoy estate will be provided to Narcissa Malfoy as part of the terms of the settlement. _

The article went on to describe how the Malfoys had been forced into service to Lord Voldemort and how they had bravely acted against him at the final battle. Hermione snorted at the description of their bravery. The article went on about the charitable contributions the Malfoys have made to various institutions as well as the rebuilding of the Ministry after the war. Blah, blah, blah. Uh oh.

_The grounds for divorce were stated as adultery on the part of Lucius Malfoy with a Miss Hermione Granger. An ambitious young woman of humble origin, well known for her role in the fall of Lord Voldemort. As expected, she denies her role in the destruction of this marriage._

Well that was just great. Now she as a gold digging homewrecker. As bad as it was, she did recognise the restraint forced on Rita Skeeter from venting her full opinion on the topic of Hermione Granger. She dreaded to think what the draft looked like before the editor's final version. Now, her denials of the non – existing relationship between her and Lucius sound like her trying to save her own skin from being tarnished.

She desperately wanted to hit something, but was all too aware of the eyes of her colleagues sneaking glances at her every few minutes. She struggled to remain calm while fighting the bile rising in her throat. Struggled even harder to fight her eyes tearing up as she refused to cry in front of her colleagues.

Hermione spent the rest of the morning pretending to work. At some point she gave up trying to actually work and settled for pretending. At lunchtime, Ginny appeared at Hermione's desk and forced her to leave the small area of relative security that was her desk. Ginny practically dragged her towards to elevators while warning her that there were reporters in the Ministry foyer waiting for her.

They broke into a run as they approached the reporters. Ginny told the reporters that they had no comments to any of their questions.

"What have I done to deserve this?" Hermione practically sobbed when they were free of any prying reporters.

They side along apparated into Ginny and Harry's flat where Ginny sat about cooking a nice pasta for lunch. "Look, Hermione, this will pass."

"Will it?", Hermione questioned, "Because they are doing a pretty good job assassinating my character. Maybe this is his intent, to completely stitch me up as the gold digging home wrecker that destroyed his marriage. Then maybe everyone will start to feel sorry for him."

Ginny didn't say anything further. They ate in silence before Ginny returned to work. Ginny tried to give Hermione some encouraging smiles every now and then.

Hermione decided that she could not face another staring session at the Ministry so she sent an owl to Mr. Jamson to say that she was stuck on a particularly difficult part of her report and has decided to work from home for the afternoon.

Hermione stayed on at Ginny and Harry until the both returned from work.

"Tough day?" Harry said sympathetically as he settled his briefcase down.

"I seem to be specialising in those lately." Hermione responded.

"Ron and Luna will be over in a bit. We thought we would have an old fashioned Barbeque tonight to cheer you up."

Hermione smiled and appreciated the fact that her friends would try to cheer her up no matter what happened.

The evening progressed and not before long they were stuffed full of Harry's Barbequed ribs, which were delicious and inadvertently taught to him by Uncle Vernon. Ron was still a bit standoffish as he had been ever since he learnt that Hermione had sex with Lucius Malfoy, intended or not. Luna was disturbingly accepting Hermione's 'relationship' with Lucius Malfoy.

There were no reporters on the foyer of the Ministry the next day and although some of her colleagues were a bit cold, the blatant staring was gone. Neither did the accusation of gold digging, homewrecking come along with a very public breakup. At the end of the day, Hermione couldn't decide if she was relieved or not. A breakup, no matter how atrociously humiliating he could manage to make it would be an end to this whole 'thing'.

Hermione spent the weekend at her parents' watch more muggle movies. Unfortunately, her mother had a preference for more romantic movies full of kissing and canoodling, which really was fairly tame, but would remind Hermione of recent activities that were not so tame involving a man that was the bane of her existence. With all its potion induced passion.

Monday morning came quickly and Hermione apparated to work in the usual fashion. Everything seemed calm.

"How was your weekend?" asked one of the ladies from the Magical Creatures Registration while they rode up in the elevator.

"It was lovely." Hermione responded cheerfully. "Everything you want in a weekend really."

A quiet 'oh' and a smile came from the lady. Hermione was pleased that the Ministry ladies were back to talking to her at least.

She stopped dead as she reached her desk, taking in the huge bouquet of red roses. It physically took up most of her desk. God, how tacky, Hermione thought. Her colleagues were sneaking sly looks at her. The unwrapped card had a very neat script that only said, LM. Just great.

"That is so romantic," her neighbouring desk occupant Adriana said. "I love roses."

"You should have them then." Hermione said trying to suppress her nausea. Over her dead body would she be walking home with them.

"I love the south of France." She continued.

Odd statement, Hermione thought, but settled herself down to quickly finish the report she was supposedly at home doing on Friday.

As was her usual ritual, she met Ginny for lunch. Hermione told Ginny about the gaudy bouquet waiting for her when she arrived.

"So you didn't read the Prophet then?"

"No." Hermione said suspiciously. "I was busy this morning."

"Apparently you and Lucius had a little get away to the south of France over the weekend." Ginny grimaced.

"Oh excellent, I love the south of France." Hermione said paroting Adriana before starting giggling uncontrollably. "I should have known. Things were just a little too normal."

When she settled down from her giggling fit, she continued, "I wonder when he is planning to break up with me."

"Maybe you can play this game too." Ginny said with a devious look. "Maybe you can announce that you're pregnant. That would wipe that arrogant look off his face."

"That would be really funny, before the little accident that kills me."

Hermione suffered through more nudge, nudge, wink, wink smiles that afternoon. She busied herself with her work to avoid interacting with anyone. Towards the end of the day, she made her way up to the Ministry owlery to send her letters for the day. On her way back she was stopped by the silken voice of the man who seemed to hold the reins of her life at the moment.

"Miss Granger." Lucius said to the effect of freezing her midstride. He stood behind her until she turned around. "I would like your company for dinner at Azzaro's tomorrow night."

"And what makes you think I would, in a million years, go to dinner with you?" Hermione asked, stunned at his audacity. Surely he couldn't be under the delusion that she wanted to be with him. She looked in his eyes, trying to find an answer to what he was doing. An ever so slight shift happened in his eyes from cool and distant, so something a little more menacing.

"I could tell you about the review I am doing on your department." He said slowly.

"Are you threatening me?" Hermione asked pointedly.

"Meet me there at eight. Wear something suitable." He said before turning and walking around the corner.

Hermione stood routed to her spot for a full minute before managing to make her way back to her office. "Or what?" She wanted to yell after him, but he had just given a good indication of what the 'or what' might be. She couldn't be entirely sure, but she suspected that he had just threatened her job if she didn't comply. In reality, he could send her out of the Ministry with a whip of his quill.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

In Hermione's dream, she was back in the Leaky Cauldron room with Lucius. She was straddling him, watching his half hooded glittering eyes, while his hands on her hips guided her rhythm. She woke up with a sense of frustration, both from the dream itself and the fact that the dreams had returned. She violently kicked the blankets off her before walking into the kitchen for a glass of water. It was still dark out, but the street lights lit up her little apartment. Tonight was her little assignation with Lucius. She was dreading it, but she wasn't sure exactly why. Maybe the fact that he was forcing her to go, or that she would be spending the evening with a Death Eater whose last bout of hospitality saw her tortured and screaming on his floor.

The day was going at a snail's pace, she did manage to finish some work before heading into the office, which left some time to go through some muggle magazines and papers. She particularly likes some of the technology and scientific magazines, the pace of development in the muggle world was breath-taking. She was increasingly growing tired of the wizard world media, which after the war has reverted to predominantly gossip and quiddage coverage. But nothing seemed to brighten her mood today.

After a fairly uneventful day, she returned to her apartment. She sat down and stared out the window. If this had been a real date, she would be running around getting ready, but it wasn't a real date so she was not preparing, in protest. She was going to wear a muggle dress, a nice little black number, but unmistakeably a muggle creation. If he didn't like it, he could just break up with her.

After a whole five minutes of getting ready, Hermione apparated to the restaurant where he was waiting for her.

"Have you been waiting long?" She asked out of politeness.

"No, I have just arrived." He said while looking over her attire. He turned towards the tables and gently guided her by placing a hand on her back. The touch seemed to burn through the fabric of the dress, making Hermione bristle. At least he was punctual, she had imagined he would make her wait for a half hour or so.

The restaurant was full with diners, many from the ministry, as well as others from some of the more prominent families of the wizarding society. She had not been here before, it wasn't the kind of place Ron had felt comfortable in.

A waiter adjusted Hermione's chair as she sat down. She placed her little clutch on the seat next to her. Tonight she wanted her wand close at hand just in case. Lucius immediately ordered some wine and the waiter left to organise it.

They sat in silence for a minute. Hermione couldn't bring herself to offer any small talk.

"Why are you going this?" She finally asked.

He didn't respond for a while, then finally said quietly. "It suits my purposes."

"And what might those be?"

"That is none of your concern." He responded coolly.

"Really." Hermione said, searching his eyes for more information. "Because you seem to be yanking me around like a puppet in the process and that concerns me."

She noticed a hint of a smile or a smirk before his face returned to its cool neutral look.

"Are you going to break up with me tonight?" She continued.

"No." He responded.

"Why not?" Hermione responded more heatedly. "Surely whatever this is has served its purpose. You have now been seen in the presence of a mudblood sufficient times to ensure your 'peers' that you are not going to kill us all on sight." The return of the waiter prevented Hermione from continuing. She did notice another tiny smile from Lucius before they were interrupted. She wondered if maybe Narcissa Malfoy was a saint for putting up with a relationship based on micro expressions for close to quarter of a century. Although she did recall a period when his expressions were not guarded at all, they were earnest and focused completely on her. The thought made her blush slightly.

When the waiter left again, the silence returned.

"What would you like to eat?" Lucius asked after a while.

Hermione abandoned her contemplation and picked up the menu. "The salmon." She said after quickly scanning the menu.

"Excellent choice. It is caught in Scotland and delivered each afternoon."

Hermione wanted to belligerently say that she couldn't care less, but managed not to say anything. "I take it you come here often." She stated after noting that he did not consult the menu at all.

He did not respond, but was studying her face. His scrutiny made her very uncomfortable.

"How long?" She asked.

"I am not sure what you are referring to Miss Granger." He said just as coolly as before.

"How long to you intend for this to go on?" She continued defiantly. "I do have a life I would like to get on with."

"From what I have been told, there is nothing immediate to distract you."

Hermione felt her anger rise as he commented on her life. The waiter returned and Hermione watched Lucius as he ordered their food. Ron would never have ordered Hermione's food and she probably wouldn't have let him, but she had the feeling with Lucius that it would be no other way. That strict pureblood etiquette which you could so easily assume was never failing, if you didn't know for a fact that occasionally they liked to don masks to torture and kill people. A shot of anger made her looked away from the man sitting across from her to scan the room. There was no one in the room she would rely on if she was in trouble. Fighting a war had made her constantly aware of her security.

She went over his words in her head. The word 'distract' made her uncomfortable, she wasn't sure what it implied, but she didn't like the feeling it gave her. She noticed that the waiter had left again and Lucius was watching her fingers absent-mindedly stroking the long silver knife on the place setting in front of her. She had mental chuckle as she wondered if he was thinking she had subconscious thoughts of killing him. Maybe she was.

They sat in silence again. Hermione noticed his scent again, that expensive aftershave that gently reminded you without overwhelming. Hermione didn't want to be reminded, she had enough of that at night.

"So what are your plans within the Ministry, Miss Granger?" Lucius asked.

"You mean along the lines of sleeping my way to the top?" She said defiantly.

"You seem to have gained a head start in that respect." He said in amused tones. After a couple of seconds he continued, "You wouldn't be the first in your position to choose such a course."

"In my position?" She asked, but when he didn't continue, she said, "It is not something I am interested in. I prefer to gain my achievements by merits."

"Is that what your parents have taught you, Miss Granger, that hardwork and diligence will get you what you want in life? How very curious, it is a very muggle perspective."

"What would you know of muggle perspectives?" Hermione fired back.

"I know it is not a wizard perspective. In this world, birth and position achieves. It has always been so." Lucius stated.

"Not all wizards feel that way." Hermione said defiantly.

He gave the slightest of shrug before saying in his measured tone, "Who? Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix?"

Hermione kept her defiant stare, but didn't say anything.

"I can be very helpful to you." He continued quietly.

"I don't want your help." Hermione threw back.

"Are you hoping that this world is going to notice the good work you do and reward you accordingly? That is not how this society works. It is as its always been."

"Every society changes." Hermione said, "Adapt or die."

This brought a real smile from Lucius. "I think your faith is misplaced, Miss Granger."

"Isn't adapting what this 'thing' between you and me is all about?" She asked, but the cold look from Lucius made her regret stating her thoughts out loud.

"Smoke and mirrors, Miss Granger, nothing more. Don't forget that."

"Don't worry, I won't."

The food arrived and they ate in silence. The fish was exquisite, as was the cheese plate and wine that came as desert.

To Hermione's dismay, she noticed that Lucius was watching her eat. Watching her mouth, hands and neck. And he wasn't watching her with an expression of 'here is a mudblood attacking the trough' that Draco would predictably display. Hermione had a fleeting thought questioning if he was actually attracted to her, but dismissed it as soon as it arose.

Without saying much more, the dinner was finished. Lucius took her hand as she rose out of her seat, another shot of electricity shot through her at the touch. She hated the familiarity of his hand. She hoped beyond anything, that she would not be reacquainted with any other parts of his body at the end of this evening. She remembered well enough was it was like to kiss him, the thought made her stomach flip. She waited as the restaurant staff got Lucius' cloak and Hermione's green tweed coat. She chided herself for her complicity as she stood there and played her part in Lucius' perfect date.

He guided her outside onto the streets of Diagon Alley.

"I need to know how long this is going to last." Hermione said quietly as they slowed down at a spot that Lucius had obviously chosen as an apparition point, "Please, I need to know. Do you know who drugged me at the Solstice dinner?"

"I have some suspicions but I do not know for sure as of yet. As to your first question, I haven't decided yet and I won't until I know the motives behind the event."

Hermione felt emotionally drained after the evening, not to mention the weeks prior. She didn't argue with what he said. Part of her felt assured that he was investigating the matter, but the rest of her wanted to throw a complete tantrum at the idea that he got to decide how long this lasted.

She apparated without saying anything more. As she undressed and crawled into bed, she chided herself for not putting an end to it. Why hadn't she thrown a tantrum in the restaurant, behaved so badly he could not be seen with her again. She knew the answer and she hated it. She didn't want to give any credence to the idea that her kind could not behave in public, or even that a relationship between a pureblood and a muggleborn, eventhough this one was as fake as the Monet on her wall, was impossible. Damn him for playing her.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Hermione's dreamscape was dark. She was in the Forbidden Forest fighting to catch her breath, she was running blindly without much sense of where she was going. She just needed to get away and she had a sense that she might just pull it off. She could hear Death Eaters in the distance, but he was getting closers. She could feel it and it scared her. Her heart sped up as she heard a twig snap close by. She sought for a hiding space, but there was nothing that...

She woke up to the still darkness of her bedroom. It was close to dawn, but only a merest tint of light indicating that it was on its way. Will she ever be rid of these infernal dreams, she thought. At least this one wasn't full of a naked Lucius making her... No, 'stern, overbearing and cold' she repeated to herself until any thoughts to the contrary left. Surely being chased by Death Eaters is a return to a semblance of normality. Before long she would probably have another nightly session with the deranged Mrs. Lestrange. Although Lucius had always been a part of those dreams; the stoic and disdainful audience to her torture. She dreaded to think what those dreams would warp into now if they ever returned.

After showering and getting dressed for the day, she made her way into the kitchen for her morning coffee. An owl was pecking on her kitchen window. A beautiful bird she didn't recognise. It carried a wrapped parcel with the Malfoy crest on the wax. A sense of dread was building up in Hermione as she unwrapped the parcel to reveal the velvet box inside. The crisp white card accompanying said, 'A token of my affection, LM.' The handwriting was elegant.

Hermione just knew it was jewellery. She put the box down and sipped her coffee, staring at it like it was going to burn a hole in her kitchen bench. She supposed that it would be expected that he would give her jewellery. It is what rich men give their mistresses, she thought feeling queasy. Ron had given her a pair of earrings once, made out of some kind of white shell. They had been much too large to actually wear, but they had reminded him of her when he saw them, so she had loved them.

Whatever was in the box would be for show. She dreaded to think what kind of monstrosity was in there. Judging by some of the jewellery that his ex-wife wore, it was likely to blind someone. She mustered the determination to open the box to find an exquisite necklace. It was deceptively simple, with a single diamond pendent hanging down asymmetrically. It was made either of silver or white gold, she had never been able to tell the difference. It was beautiful. It was also simple enough that she could easily wear it. As she examined it, she noticed that the clasp had the Malfoy crest. She snapped the box shut and left it on the counter as she went to work.

---

She worked the morning away, but could not shake the foul mood she was in. She met up with Luna for lunch at one of the Diagon Alley pubs.

"How was the dinner last night." Luna gently inquired.

"It was fine. I made it home in one piece, so that is a bonus considering. Unfortunately he doesn't have any plans on break up."

"Maybe he likes you." Luna said.

"What is giving you these ridiculous notions, Luna?" Hermione said in amazement. "The only reason he is doing this is to rescue his reputation and to punish me."

"What is the world would he want to punish you for?" Luna asked.

"For existing, for causing him to lose so much money in his divorce..." she said, for making him come, she finished to herself. "From his perspective I guess he has every reason to hate me."

"And that bothers you?"

"Oh God no. Hate away. I just wish I didn't have to sit across the table when he's doing it." Hermione said chewing her lip. "It really is doing my head in."

"You think he wants revenge for what has happened?"

"Yes! And he pretty much threatened my job if I didn't go along with it. Probably looking for a nice pit somewhere to drop me in, never to be heard from again."

"He is a slytherin, they are known to use leverage to get what they want." Luna said. "If he wanted you rid from the Ministry, it wouldn't be hard for him. Getting you fired would pretty much exclude you from the wizarding community. There aren't that many other jobs in the wizarding community, especially for someone fired from the Ministry."

Luna's statement made Hermione wince. Having someone spell out how vicarious her situation was only made it seem more real. Luna continues, "But he didn't though. He must not want rid of you."

Not yet, Hermione said to herself. This conversation was not making her feel better and no matter how much she loved her, Luna's seemingly knowing smile was creeping her out at the moment.

---

After having thrown herself into her work for the afternoon, she went home. A nice meal and a couple glasses of red wine would set her right, she determined. Maybe a nice bath with the expensive bath salts she bought in Paris last year. She owed herself a bit of comfort food and TLC.

The necklace box was still on the kitchen bench when she got home. She did a fairly good job ignoring it while she cooked dinner. After eating she sat down to watch the muggle news while nursing her glass of wine.

A knock on the door made her turn it off before she even got through the headlines. She wasn't expecting anyone, but it wasn't unheard off that one of her friends would drop by for a chat. She had learnt that the TV was for some reason disconcerting to her friends who were not used to having that kind of background noise.

The door, however, revealed the person she least wanted to see.

"Miss Granger, a chat I think." Lucius said.

Hermione's heart dropped to the floor. Bloody effin typical. "Really I thought we had all the chat we could stomach last night."

He pushed past her, assaulting her with his expensive scent, "It is customary to invite someone in when they knock on ones door, Miss Granger."

"Only if you want them to come in."

He turned to look at her with a slight look of long born suffering. "This is your dwelling?" He asked as he quickly scanned her apartment.

"As my presence indicates." Hermione said testily. "You know, I can cope with the pretence of this relationship, Mr. Malfoy, but I didn't think it was necessary that we actually see each other every night."

The slight wince he made told her that he found her annoying. "You did not wear the necklace I sent."

"I didn't." Hermione said while mentally relegating the necklace the status of the embodiment of bad things coming her way. She also knew that it was a gift and not wearing it was rude, she would have readily worn the ugliest piece of jewellery in the world if one of her friends or family gave it to her. She now regretted not wearing the damned thing for the sheer fact that it had drawn him here, but she also knew that it would have burned around her neck all day.

"It is not to your taste." He asked almost incredulously.

"No it is beautiful." Hermione started, "Its just... I..." She was now squirming under his increasingly intense gaze. He maintained his silence and would obviously continue doing so until she answered.

She steeled her determination and continued, "I just felt uncomfortable being...branded."

Lucius eyebrows shot up somewhat. "I won't tell you that there are a lot of women who would pay dearly to be in your place." he said while Hermione could not help but smile at the arrogance of the statement. Sadly she also knew it was also true.

"I have no doubt." She returned, "but as I am not really in that place, and I am certainly not fishing here, it just doesn't feel right."

"It is unusual for women to feel uncomfortable about jewellery." He responded smiling slightly while having closer look at some of the things in her apartment. "It is undoubtedly a sign of ownership, if that is what you are getting at. And as such, it also conveys status, which women gain through their alliances."

"That is a pretty cold way to look at the world." Hermione said, feeling an urge to eject him and everything he stands for, and perhaps even her dinner, out of her apartment and life.

"Perhaps", he said while opening the box containing the necklace. He gently picked the necklace up around his long slim fingers and moved to stand behind Hermione.

Hermione could feel the hair on her arms stand on edge as he came close to her. His scent completely enveloped her, causing her to slightly panic. A sense of suffocation was building, but something kept her routed to the spot. He reached up and moved her hair along her back and over her shoulder with the back of his hand, his fingertips grazing the skin along her neck as did so. Hermione felt every single millimetre of the touch. She drew more breath in with the shock of the touch on top of the breath she was already holding. The lack of actual breathing was making her feel dizzy. He brought the necklace around her neck and clasped it together at the back.

"But you will wear it, Miss Granger. It would be noted if you did not wear such a ...token." He finished, before running his finger from her hairline down over the necklace down to the collar of her shirt.

Hermione knew this was not an accidental touch and while the electricity in her body travelled back and forth like eddy currents, a blush was spreading up her neck and across her cheeks.

Lucius moved away towards the window and looked outside. Hermione slowly let out the breath she had been holding and noticed the marked temperature difference as he left.

"Now there will be a dinner next week at the Parkinsons. It will be a formal affair so you will need to wear something appropriate." He said while observing the scene outside her window. After a few seconds he continued more to himself, "I will acquire you some suitable robes, I think."

Hermione was shifting around on her spot, desperate to argue, but not quite sure her voice would co-operate with her. She was still to clear the embarrassing blush from her cheeks.

Suddenly he moved, walked towards the door and said, "Good Evening, Miss Granger." He was gone, leaving Hermione to close the door behind him.

Hermione stood on her spot shifting from one foot to the other for what must have been five minutes, contemplating what had just happened. She felt utterly drained and completely uncomfortable. Thank heaven she still had three quarters of a bottle of wine left, she was going to need it.

The necklace weighed heavy around her neck. Amazingly heavy for such a light, delicate looking object. She reached up and unclasped the necklace to put it back in its box. She would wear it to work when she next went in because she knew he would be back if she didn't, but she certainly was not going to wear it now.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Hermione went to work the next week with the necklace weighing down on her every day. It might as well have been a shining beacon, because _everyone_ noticed it. Some were giving her dirty looks, like Draco who called her a whore under his breath. Others were giving her knowing smiles. Madam Duart even cornered her in the elevator one afternoon to tell her that she would have to hang on tight to a man like Lucius because there was stiff competition out there and she might lose him if she's not careful. Surely not, Hermione answered with the conviction and energy of a dead badger. She wondered if when he finally did break up with her she would have to put on a show, maybe squeeze out a bit of fake bawling. The ladies would be expecting it she thought with a sigh.

She only saw Lucius once while passing through the Treasury department. She saw him through an open door to a meeting room full of Treasury boffins. He noticed her right away and Hermione cursed her lack of good fortune. She made an exaggerated gesture pointing at the necklace around her neck, which got her an elegant raised eyebrow in response.

Ginny seemed disturbingly fascinated by it and Ron turned purple and left when he saw it. Hermione felt about two feet tall, being bullied into this faux relationship. She wished she could go home and go to sleep, but Mr. Jamson would probably fire her if she took more time off and then she would have gone through this humiliation for nothing.

As the week went on, the dread in her stomach intensified as the Soiree at the Parkinson's was coming closer. That was right in the heartland of Pureblood territory and Hermione would probably rather be attending a meeting of medieval German witch hunters. It had been creeping closer and closer, but this Friday afternoon, time was dragging. Hermione wondered if the clock on the wall had stopped, while adjusting the necklace to stop the choking feeling.

Home time eventually came, and Hermione's dread was practically palpable. She apparated home at the appropriate time trying to come up with a credible reason for while she couldn't go. A large box was leaning against the front door as she reached her apartment. This must be the dress he was providing for the evening. Evening wear was not really her thing, she had two little black dresses she wore to most formal occasions.

The box, however, contained a lime green dress. Hermione winced with distaste as she lifted it out of the box. She would never in a million years buy a lime green piece of anything, let alone an evening dress. He was going to embarrass her by dressing her up as a clown she decided. The material was incredibly soft and Hermione had trouble holding onto it as it seemed to melt out of her hands. She determined that she couldn't possibly wear it, but she would try it on so she could say that it didn't fit.

She put it down on the sofa before turning on her computer to read her emails. She occasionally got an odd email from Harry, but mostly it was from her family and the odd friend she had left over from primary school. She liked email, it was so easy to use and it hands-down beat sending messages by owl or having to stick your head in a fire. After having a shower and drying her hair, she returned to the dress.

It fit perfectly, it skimmed her hips and gently hugged her bust suggestively, but not luridly. The colour actually made her skin look amazing, like it glowed. She would never have guessed it, but it worked. She had to grudgingly admit that maybe being a shallow statement of expensive refinement for the last forty or so years had actually given him some insight into what looked good. The box also contained some nude high heels, which also fit perfectly. How the hell did he know her size, Hermione wondered. Even her bloody hair was co-operating.

Lucius arrived an hour later, looking immaculate as always. As Hermione opened the door, he strode in took a long up and down her to Hermione's complete embarrassment.

"You'll do." He said before turning away. "Are you ready?"

"No. This isn't really my kind of scene."

"No it isn't." He said while walking around her apartment. "Try not to talk."

Hermione glowered at him as he walked around her apartment.

"What is this?" He demanded when in the kitchen.

"It toasts bread." She said coldly, to which she got another one of his raised eyebrow. "And this?" He said pointing at her computer.

"It presents data and information."

He was watching it for a moment before dismissing it. He now came towards her and stood too close for comfort.

"We must apparate there and I will hazard a guess that you do not know where it is. I will guide you then." He said before placing a hand around her waist.

Hermione held her breath as he side along apparated them to the Parkinson's home. He held her close for a second while Hermione gained her balance. She hadn't been this close to him since they had been in bed naked together. Hermione was endlessly disturbed by the feeling of his body along hers, completely solid has he held her tight. Hermione realised she must be blushing to her roots by now.

Lucius stepped away and held out his arm for her. Hermione didn't want to take it, she didn't want another reminder of the flesh and bone that lay underneath the clothes, but she did. He lead her up the stairs to the open front door. The Parkinson's house looked just as solid and medieval as Malfoy Manor but smaller. The house was lit up and the windows sparkled with mellow lights.

Inside the door, the Parkinsons' were receiving their guests. Hermione politely said hello to Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson. She received a fairly polite response to Mr. Parkinson who immediately settled into conversation with Lucius. Pansy gave Hermione a dirty look and her mother's wasn't much different. The curt greeting wasn't followed by any conversation and an uncomfortable silence followed. Hermione looked around the room to see just about every Slytherin family she knew of. This was much more than the little dinner she had been expecting, this was more like a banquet consisting of all the people who hated her most. Yeah, she thought to herself, a gathering of the Hermione fan club. The women all looked very well kept in expensive clothes and a sizeable chunk of Gringott's jewellery holdings, making Hermione look fairly plain in comparison. These were all of Narcissa's friends, who probably blamed her exclusively for the disintegration of her marriage. Hermione hoped against hope Narcissa wasn't here, surely they would not be attending the same dinners. Draco was though, Hermione could see his blond hair across the room.

How the hell did I get myself into this, Hermione wondered yet again. This is probably going to be more painful than anything I have ever experienced. She slowly followed Lucius around the room as he walked to various people, beyond saying hello, there wasn't much for her to say. At one point, Lucius excused himself and left her for whatever reason. Hermione felt a bit of panic at him leaving and for the first time ever wished him back. The hard looks from the women were relentless. She made her way to one of the walls, nursing the glass of wine she had somehow acquired along the way. An elderly man struck up a conversation with her. He was really nice and polite so Hermione guessed that he had no idea who she was, which suited her just fine. He wore an older style robe, which were obviously from the same time as Ron's Yule Ball dress roles, but a much finer version.

To Hermione's relief, she also spotted a familiar Ravenclaw class mate across the room, which was great because the elderly wizard had fallen asleep and was now snoring. As she headed over to the only person in the room that would remotely be seen as a friend, Lucius blocked her way as she was making her way through the crowd, with Draco in tow.

"Miss Granger." Draco said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"It seems dinner is about to be served." Lucius said, "Draco will take you in."

Lucius moved ahead to talk to someone, leaving Hermione at the mercy of her school nemesis. Draco held out his arm to indicate that she should take it. Hermione didn't really have another choice.

"So, you have managed to claw your way out of the gutter then." Draco said coldly as they walked to the dining hall, "This society is well above your lot, so it seems you should be congratulated on your success."

"Believe me Malfoy, I want to be here as much as you want me here."

"I find that hard to believe." He said with a snort, "You have been trying to ingratiate yourself into better circles from the moment you arrived from the Muggle world. Sucking up to Potter at the first opportunity. Now you have your sights set on higher goals, but it won't work, they will see through you in a heatbeat. Filth like you will always be that, filth."

"That is funny coming from you Malfoy, since beside your Slytherin loser friends, it really looked like everyone's been trying to shake you off their boots lately." Hermione responded watching the muscles in his jaw twitching. "Where are you working now, the Gringott's janitorial department? Even with all of your father's money, he couldn't manage to purchase you a better position?"

"I work in the communications department and my prospects look good, as opposed to you who are stuck doing something really important like measuring paper sizes for a living. With all that slaving over your books, it got you nowhere and that is where dirt like you will stay." He spat at her quietly enough so no one could overhear. "And as for my father, you are just a dirty lay and he'll get tired of you before the week is out."

Hermione was bright red and fuming as she took her seat between a school age Slytherin girl and man who's features didn't quite fit his face. She wanted to grab one of the elaborate centrepieces and throw it at Draco who had moved down towards the other end of the table. The girl ignored her throughout dinner, but the man talked incessant about Alpine Herbology, which was obviously his main passion in life. She noticed that Lucius was watching her intermittently throughout the dinner. He was sitting some ways away on the other side of the table, surrounded by Ministry bigwigs. She must have been relegated to the part of the table for children and loonies.

The dinner went on for ages, with course after course, and Hermione's ears were burning from her neighbour's endless talk. The glasses of wine were muting it a bit. She wasn't drunk, but the candle lights were starting to sparkle a bit more. She also learnt that her attention was not strictly necessary for her neighbour, so she spent a bit more time watching the people around the table. Draco was down the other end talking to the Greengrass girls. Pansy was pouting at Zabini. The older ladies were down the other end, apparently admiring eachother's jewellery, which made Hermione roll her eyes. Lucius was still watching her, while listening to the conversation around him. They were probably planning the next phase of Slytherin world domination, Hermione thought to herself. The room was beautiful in its mirrors, dark shiny wood and marble.

It really was amazing how different the Slytherins were, Hermione mused to herself. Their obsession with everything dark and their endless formality. She recognised none of the warm comfort that she knew from the Burrows. God she missed Ron. It had been so close, but their relationship never seemed to hit its stride. Wanting it just wasn't enough. Now she is stuck being a puppet in this farce.

The dinner was ending and the conversation was moving to the parlour room. Hermione's sense of panic was reasserting itself now to prepare for whatever assault was coming her way. Eyes were watching her as she moved towards the parlour. The women were openly disapproving, while the men were more alcohol induced appraising. Hermione could feel her skin starting to crawl with discomfort, but to her immense relief Lucius joined her side. She chided herself for actually being glad to have him hear.

Lucius was talking to Mr. Parkinson and Hermione stood quietly by nursing yet another glass of wine. Some of the men around them made a bit of polite conversation, asking her about where in the Ministry she worked and what she was working on. Hermione watched as the first guest said goodbye to the host and her hopes soared. She was further encouraged by Lucius saying to Mr. Parkinson's that it was perhaps time for them to leave as well. He placed a hand on her back and gave her wine glass to a passing waiter, before moving towards the foyer.

On the way, he stopped to thank Mrs. Parkinson for her wonderful hospitality and kissed her hand, which pleased the woman immensely. Hermione got a quick nod before they moved a few feet away. At this point, Lucius' hand travelled up to the back of her neck. Before Hermione knew what was happening, Lucius was bending down to kiss her and the hand on her neck made sure she didn't go anywhere.

The kiss was chaste, but it shocked Hermione to the core. Perhaps because she wasn't expecting it, it sent an explosion of sensation through her, along with the taste of him that she had forgotten. The taste that represented raw sex.

A few seconds later, he side along apparated them to her apartment which was lit only be the street lights outside. Again he held her close to let her gain her balance. Hermione was still stunned from the kiss, so her balance didn't have much of a hope in that moment.

She stepped away and repressed a reaction of place her fingers on her lips. She knew full well the kiss was communicating something to the people they left at the party. She wasn't exactly sure what, and she didn't care either. She wanted to hit him for using her so, but all she could manage was to clear her throat.

"When are you going to break up with me?" Hermione said quietly without looking at him. "I think I might be suicidal after another evening with your friends."

"You'll get used to it." He said in return.

It wasn't what she wanted to hear. She felt her eyes begin to water, "Please Lucius, this isn't fair. You have made your point, you can completely manipulate and bully me into doing what you want. Bravo. Can this end now?"

"No, I think not. As I told you before, this will end when I am ready." He said stoically. "You did well tonight."

"Well? It was one of the most awful evenings I've ever had, with the obvious exception of time I have spent at your house." Hermione said tersely.

"Considering who you are, you were treated fairly well I thought. No one was unkind to you."

"You mean being a mudblood?" Hermione said angrily, watching him. "Was I being well treated for a mudblood? With the exception of your son, I suppose no one was directly hostile. I guess more shouldn't be expected from your lot."

Hermione watched the muscle in his jaw work, exactly like she had watched Draco earlier in the evening. She wondered why he was keeping this all up. Surely, everyone knew by now how he has lowered himself to date a mudblood, she thought bitterly. He had said he didn't want this to end until he knew the purpose of their drugging and she understood that to some extent, but she couldn't see what keeping it going now would achieve.

"He will not treat you unkindly again?" Lucius finally said.

"Who?" Hermione asked, not sure what he was referring to.

"Draco." Lucius said to her surprise.

"Why change the habit of a lifetime. Frankly, I would probably be worried if he didn't."

After that he gave her a curt nod and apparated away. Once he'd left, she gave herself leave to touch the lips that were still burning from the kiss. She was now well on her way to being drunk, maybe that explains her reaction to a stupid little kiss.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Hermione's dreams were merciless. Again she woke up before dawn, covered in sweat. She had dreamt about being with Malfoy in that inn room. She checked her clock and flopped her heat back onto her pillow when she realised how early it was. But instead of suppressing the memories as she always does, she let them linger. She had dreamt of holding him so close while he was moving inside her. She had wanted him so completely, wanting more of his skin on hers, wanting him deeper. She remembered that she had called out 'Oh Fuck' when she was coming and each of his thrusts had extended the waves of sensation. They seemed to go on forever. It has been so very good. She couldn't recognise the stoic man she knew now with the one that had been in bed with her. He has been alive, with joy and pain and pleasure animating his features, filling her every thought and sense with him. There was no denying it, coming looked good on Lucius Malfoy. And she had been so utterly happy when he did because it brought him just that little bit closer.

She has been so very embarrassed by it, doing anything to get rid of the memories whenever they surfaced. She wondered why she had been so desperate to escape the memories. She was supposed to be angry because this was imposed on her by the potion. Or was it who he was, someone as awful as a Deatheater, the aristocratic pureblood. Or was it that she had completely given herself over, not worrying about the state of her bikini line, or where her hands should be or if there was funny noises to mortify her. Wanting a man so utterly and completely was not something Hermione had experienced before. It had none of the awkward fumbling, the embarrassment of her body or the worry that she was going the right thing. This was different and it had been fantastic, even if it was the result of the potion. She wanted to know which part of it had been the potion. Was that the kind of sex that only happened because of potions? Was it him? Or was it her without the filter that had always made her so embarrassed about sex? Was there any part of that which had been real, she wondered.

Her musings continued while she had a shower and got dressed in her most comfortable sweats. She was glad for the weekend, sleeping in would have been nice, but watching the dawn wouldn't be too bad either. She found the necklace on the living room floor where she had thrown it in her slightly inebriated state the night before. That awful evening with the Slytherins.

For some reason, the evening hadn't bothered her so much this morning, she wasn't even that fussed about Draco's vile comments. Maybe nights dreaming about amazing sex took the edge of things like that, she thought with a giggle.

After the dawn she settled down to spend the morning reading some muggle magazines before her lunch date with Ginny.

---

"So how was your evening at the Parkinsons?" Ginny asked.

"I think god awful would be the best way to sum it up." Hermione responded, but she couldn't muster the energy to convey much anger. "I had my ears talked off by someone who's parents were a little too closely related."

"That's mean, they seem to be rubbing off on you." Ginny said looking worried.

"That was a little mean wasn't it." Hermione said, a little embarrassed. "He was a lovely man really, he just wouldn't shut up."

"Has he been treating you badly?" Ginny asked guardedly.

"No, not really, besides forcing be to go to the thing in the first place. Draco had a go, but that's as expected. The women were a bit hostile."

"That's not surprising, you probably have them all worried that they are going to be traded in for young, nubile muggleborns." Ginny laughed.

"Now who's being mean. Why can't they all see through this ridiculous fake relationship?" Hermione asked.

"How fake is it though?" Ginny asked to Hermione's shock.

"Come on Ginny."

"I mean you go out with him to dinner and to parties, you wear his jewellery, your fairly much exclusive. You can't really claim that it was just a potion induced mistake anymore. What was that saying you used to use, if it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, its a duck." Ginny said.

Hermione couldn't help but look at Ginny like she had sprouted another head. Her mind was working furious to process what Ginny was saying. "We're not doing it!"

"Its not actually necessary." Ginny responded, "Lots of people have relationships without that particular component, particularly in Pureblood society where people date for ages before getting it on. I mean if someone asks you if you're dating him, can you say no?"

"But its a fake relationship." Hermione said a little unsure.

"How exactly is it fake?" Ginny asked. "Has he said 'let's have a fake relationship'?"

"He said it was smoke and mirrors, that definitely implies its fake. You can't seriously suggest that he is interested in me?"

"I don't know. Maybe not, but that isn't strictly necessary either. So the motives in the relationship may not be completely honourable, but that is nothing new. The motives behind a relationship doesn't negate the relationship. Although Luna seems to think.."

"Yeah I know what Luna thinks and its the reason she is still called Looney in some circles."

Hermione was utterly disturbed by the logic that Lucius Malfoy _was_ her boyfriend, but since she has been going along with her could she seriously claim anything else. Fuck. Yeah, he might dump her anytime he feels like it and he was twisting her to do things his way, but that is true in any relationship. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

"You're supposed to make me feel better, you know that?" Hermione shot at Ginny.

"Sorry sweets. Anyway, as you may recall, we are having a little get together tonight. All things considered, boyfriends won't be required." Ginny said with a mischievous smile. "But most of the Gryffindors will be there so you should come."

---

Hermione arrived and Ginny and Harry's just after seven. The place was full of all the people she had gone to school with. A giant round of hugs ensued; letting Hermione say Hello to all the people she hadn't talked to for a while. Even Ron gave her a muted hug, before returning his attention to Lavender. George and Angelina were there and it was the first time she had seen them since they found out they were expecting.

The whole house was full of excited and warm chatter, and Hermione thought it was so lovely she could cry. Everyone was having a good time. She went to have a chat with Dean and Oliver, but Dean soon left to say hello to one of the younger girl, leaving her with Oliver.

"How have you been?" He asked.

"Good, I suppose," she said, "Just getting on with my work at the Ministry. How is life on the Quiddage team?"

"Really good. We had a spectacular match with the Irish last week." Oliver talked on about the match with the same enthusiasm he had shown at school. Hermione noted how handsome he had gotten. He had aged a bit and was definitely more like a man now than the boy she had known.

"I hear you are seeing Lucius Malfoy." He said to Hermione's discomfort. "Not the kind of guy I expected to see you with."

"Me neither." Was all Hermione could say.

"Is it serious?"

"No, not at all." Hermione said, not knowing what to say next. "I just thought I would try dating someone completely different. But no, it is not serious at all. As you can imagine, there are some serious compatibility problems, but I am young so why not try some different fish."

Hermione reddened at the series of lies and how easily they came out, but to her relief he seemed to accept what she was saying.

"So no hope for that relationship then?" He asked slyly and Hermione's loud snort gave him the answer.

"Its been ages since we caught up. Perhaps we could catch up for lunch next week?" He asked.

"Why not." Hermione said, slightly embarrassed but incredibly flattered. Its only lunch, she thought to herself, friends catch up for lunch all the time.

Hermione was again a bit tipsy by the end of the night. It had been such a lovely evening and meeting Oliver again was also lovely. Maybe even a little thrilling. He looked so good, she thought to herself. She had always had a bit of a crush on him at school, but he had never really noticed her. The thought of her 'boyfriend' left a little niggling feeling of discomfort, but it was only lunch. Friends catch up for lunch all the time.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

After spending the weekend with her parents, Hermione arrived at work the following Monday to find a request from her boss to meet at eleven. Hermione wasn't sure what this meeting was for, but hoped that it meant a new assignment. A part of her brained flashed a warning that maybe Lucius has managed to get her fired, but she dismissed it.

In fact, it was a new assignment. Mr. Jamson asked Hermione to investigate come complaints related to the quality of tin that had been arriving in the country lately.

"It is either not strong enough or too strong to be malleable it seems. This is a very important assignment Hermione. As you know, tin is the workhorse of manufacturing as has been as far back as anyone can remember." Mr. Jamson elaborated. "I want you to gather more information from the complainants and compile a report. It might be necessary for you to go to the Far East for a few days to get an understanding of why there is tin entering the market that does not comply with the standards. That should be very exciting you. The Far East is a very exotic destination full of mysteries. Although I would understand if you did not want to go, very few wizards travel so far afield. I can send Solestry instead if you feel uncomfortable travelling so far."

"No that is alright, Mr Jamson. I would love to go. I have been to the Far East once before."

"Really?"

"I went to Thailand with my parents for a couple of weeks some years back."

"How extraordinary." Mr. Jamson mused.

No really, Hermione thought but kept it to herself. What she thought was more extraordinary was that wizards didn't seem to travel much, even with portkeys. Although saying that, the complete nausea she felt during her trip to South America could explain some of the aversion. Although spending 10 hours locking in place like sardines consuming stale air and awful food did not seem to put muggles off.

Hermione agreed that she would spend two weeks interviewing complainants, then schedule the trip to Malaysia for two weeks time. The new assignment ate through her time at an amazing speed. She spent the next few days mostly out of the office.

Her lunch appointment with Oliver arrived before she knew it. She was fairly excited and managed to spend a few minutes in her flat to check on her appearance. A bit of lipgloss was in order, before apparating off to the pub for lunch.

Lunch was fun. Oliver looked gorgeous and he made her laugh throughout the lunch date. He did go on about quidditch a bit, but she supposed that was understandable as he did play professionally. He had a smile that could just make her melt if she let it. It wasn't a long date and it was over too quick. Oliver had to return to practice, and Hermione had to get back to her interviewing. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek before leaving the pub to apparate back to his team. Hermione walked down Diagon Alley for a little while, absentmindedly checking out the shops before apparating off to her next interview. She felt a little giddy from the meeting with Oliver. She really liked him, she decided that there was definite potential there. Honestly, she had not felt giddy about a boy since school.

***

But it wasn't Oliver that Hermione was dreaming about at night. No, it was those grey eyes demanding everything from her. Hermione woke up the next morning chiding her subconscious for still going on about it. Yes, the sex was fantastic, but really, isn't it time to get over it. Why, when there is a perfectly suitable, not to mention appropriate man like Oliver around. So maybe the quidditch talk would drive her mad over time, but surely they could find other things to talk about. No one would want to talk about their work all the time, that would be insane. Atleast he wasn't a Deatheater for heaven's sake.

Hermione showered and got ready for work. She had a few days in the office now to start her report. She had a lot of material to go through and record. The quill was giving her cramps and she wished she could just use her computer. Maybe she would work out a spell that would transform typed words into quill scribbles, that would save her some pain. She would have to sneak away home and work there, because it would definitely not be alright if she brought her computer in.

In the afternoon, her writing hand refused to co-operate further so she went outside the office to give it a rest along with her mind. She went along the walkway on her floor that looked down on the atrium. She found the sound of the fountain soothing and liked the bustle of all the ministry workers coming and going.

As she watched, she was Lucius exit one of the elevators and walked across the atrium to one of the fireplaces. Her eyes followed him taking his confident strides across the vast space. The white blonde hair swaying slightly with his steps, contrasting against his severe black robes. It seemed to flow like silk over his shoulder as he looked down to pick up some floo powder.

Hermione had never actually watched him before. She had either avoided him or tried to will some understanding out of his eyes, but never actually watched him. He was beautiful, undoubtedly. She watched as he spoke his destination and dropped the floo powder down towards his feet. His steely eyes resuming their typical half hooded and unforgiving expression before the green fire took him away to wherever he was going.

Her boyfriend, what a joke. Men like that did not go out with girls like her. She couldn't even imaging being with a man so confident, so entitled, who just takes what he wants. And he gets away with everything. Oh sure, work to overthrow the establishment in support of a total madman, completely forgiven. Admittedly, he had been chided along the way, even been thrown in Azkaban a couple of times, but in the end he is always forgiven. She on the other hand would probably be dismissed on the spot if she filled out a form wrong. She couldn't even be certain that she would be served in stores. She fought hard not to wonder where he was going. He lingered on her mind a bit longer, but soon returned to work.

Her apartment was quiet when she returned home and it was bliss to be home again. She loved spending time with her parents, but her apartment was hers and it catered to her completely. She checked her emails and watched the news while cooking her dinner. After dinner she heard an owl scratching at her window. The attached note was from Oliver and Hermione buzzed with excitement as she unrolled the small scroll.

_Hermione,_

_I had a lovely time the other day, but I can't see you again. I don't know the state of your relationship with Mr. Malfoy, I can only go by the things I am told. He is however, a friend of Mr. Atrinly, the owner of the Puddlemere United team, which makes things awkward. Perhaps it would be better for you to sort out your feelings for eachother before involving other people._

_Kind Regards,_

_Oliver_

Hermione's jaw dropped as she read the missive. She didn't know what made her more disappointed, the fact that Lucius had bullied Oliver, which really, on second thought was not really a surprise, or the fact that Oliver would bow to it so easily. She could perhaps understand that he did not see that she was herself being bullied, no actually she couldn't. She made a job of crushing the scroll and throwing it out of the window.

What had she expected, she chided herself, that he would risk his job and ride in to the rescue on his broomstick? Part of her wanted to say, 'Yes Dammit, why shouldn't a handsome man come in and rescue me from an ogre', admittedly beautifully packaged ogre. She wanted to throw something, but couldn't think of anything she wanted to lose. She settled on a magazine, but it just didn't satisfy.

***

She received a summons from Lucius the next day. All it said was to meet him at Azarro's the next evening at 8. At least it was a public place, so all things considered he probably wasn't planning on murdering her, she thought to herself dryly.

At least she was making headway with the assignment. Tin was coming into the country in non-standard compositions. It seemed the tin was being mixed with other metals and causing problems for users expecting their tried and true. As far as Hermione could see there were better options than tin for most of the uses, but they had an aversion to modern metallurgy. At this point, Hermione did not have the energy to argue.

Eventually her dinner date with Malfoy dragged around. She wore one of her tried and true little black dresses.

"Miss Granger." Lucius greeted her as she reached the table.

"Mr. Malfoy. You are well I hope?" She said more to make conversation.

"I am." He said before the waiter came to provide menus and to discuss the wine list. Lucius and the waiter seemed to have an in-depth conversation on the merits of some of the wines, but finally settled on a vintage, which he apparently had not tried before.

"Have you had a busy week?" He asked is his lazy drawl.

"Yes, I have a new assignment." Hermione said with a little more liveliness. "It is keeping me occupied. There are problems with the Tin supply."

"Ah yes, where would we be without it. I also understand that you have met a young man the other day." He said casually.

"Yes, I caught up with one of my house mates from school." Hermione said equally casually. Fully expecting that this conversation would come up.

"For lunch at one of the Diagon Alley pubs." He finished while twirling the wine in his glass as if considering it, or her.

"We are friends and have been for a long time." Hermione said defiantly.

"And nothing more?"

"No, but I won't lie to you. I like him."

"I appreciate your honest. I will not tolerate dishonesty in my companion." He said quietly.

Companion? Hermione repeated in her head.

"You cannot of course, see others romantically while you are linked to me. It would be best if you did not see him again." He continued.

Hermione felt the heat build up as she bristled at being told what she could or could not do. She struggled to put into words the things she needed to say that this point. It took her a whole minute to calm down and start to put something coherent together.

"I need to see to my own interests, Mr. Malfoy. I've made no secret of the fact that I don't know what this 'link' is, but you need to know that I won't barter my own future for it." Hermione said, fairly proud of how grown up and controlled it sounded. He wasn't looking in her eye, but watching the wine swirling around his glass.

"I will watch out for your interests." He said after a moment, to Hermione's complete astoundment. "If you have needs, I will take care of them."

"You can't be serious." She blurted out completely losing the grown up coolness she had managed a few seconds earlier. Her mind buzzed with a complete blankness. The idea that he would take care of her 'needs' was preposterous. She wasn't entirely sure he was proposing the same thing that she was hearing, although if he was, he is obviously insane, or have found a really effective way of keeping her from pushing it with other men.

The waiter arrived while Hermione was gasping like a fish out of water. In the end, Lucius ordered for her as she watched the waiter take her menu and walk away with the order he had made for her.

"I am not a little girl, I can decide what I want to eat." She finally got out.

"Forgive me. I am used to ordering for the women in my company." He said without much sign of remorse. "There has been an interesting development." He continued, "My son is getting engaged."

Not what Hermione would call remotely interesting, but she kept her silence. She was a bit curious as to who Draco would see as appropriate for himself to marry. She even wondered if he had a choice in who his wife was.

"Who is the lucky girl?" Hermione managed.

"Astoria Greengrass." Lucius said. "Insipid girl, but the family line is good."

Hermione nodded like what he was saying was completely understandable. "Well, all good then." She said before shifting uncomfortably in her seat. She could not believe she was having this conversation.

"The engagement announcement party will be in a weeks time in Venice. It will be quite an event, it will last a whole week." He said.

"That sounds lovely." Hermione said absentmindedly as she watched for the food.

"You will be expected to attend, of course." Lucius said.

"Wait, what?" Hermione said. "No I can't, I have a trip to the Malaysia, I can't go. Besides, Draco would probably rather pull out his nails than have me there."

"I will have a chat with your superiors, they will excuse you. And Draco would be delighted." He said as the waiter approached with their food. Hermione got a pasta, of course.

"I can't just drop my work everytime my 'companion' wants something." Hermione said, starting to feel a cold sweat coming on at having to spend a week in Draco and the purebloods' company.

"Of course you can. It is expected." Lucius said coldly.

"That's ridiculous. How can I be seen as trustworthy if I drop my work at a moments notice to go gallivanting off somewhere?" Hermione said.

"You are not expected to be trustworthy, Ms. Granger. You are expected to get married and leave to keep your house and raise your children."

Again Hermione assumed the look of utter disbelief. Her food had turned to cardboard in her mouth and it did not seem to want to shift down her throat. She wanted to again say that he wouldn't be serious, but the look in his eyes when she searched them told her that he was dead serious. "That is not how I was raised." She finally managed.

"I am aware of that, Miss Granger. It is still what is expected in this society." He said.

It certainly had been what Ron had expected, she thought to herself. In fact, everyone she knew who had gotten married had quit their jobs. Even the ladies at Hogwarts had only returned to work after their children were adults.

After a moment of deep thought, she said very guardedly, "You are not expecting anything of the sort here are you?" She said while motioning between him and herself.

"Now that would be ridiculous." He said dismissively.

Good, Hermione thought, because she hoped like hell he didn't believe that was a 'need' he would take care of.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Hermione woke up with a splitting headache. She was still shocked from the night before. Her lack of dreams indicated that her subconscious was finally shocked into silence as well. She was feeling sick of being a pawn in someone else's game. It hadn't been so bad when she thought Lucius would use her for a few days. She hadn't cared actually. It was annoying and frustrating, but fundamentally she hadn't cared. But now, he seemed to think this would go on for a while; long enough to affect her interests. Last night had told her that this thing was different from what she thought and the idea that Lucius would take care of her interests, not to mention her needs was beyond disturbing.

Hermione had to seriously consider whether he was totally with it. She had wondered about the sanity of a lot of wizards over the years, and while functional, Lucius Malfoy could well be mad as a march hare. Its not like he is giving much away about what is going on in his head. Obviously something he deemed serious enough to warrant 'taking care' of her and her inferior blood. She wondered again if he was proposing what she heard, maybe it was just a slip because it came across in its context like he would provide whatever male companionship she would need. Maybe he was just trying to control her, knowing full well that she would never go there. She knew he was perceptive, she had even learnt that Draco could pick on any of her emotions, which he would use to his full advantage. Fucking Malfoys.

She also knew that her mudblood flesh was revolting to them. They had made that obvious through the years, love potion besides. She perversely wondered whether he would go through with 'take care of her needs' if she pushed it. If she had Ginny's guts she would call his bluff, but she didn't. If it revolved whipping out a wand, she would be there through thick and thin, but whipping out other stuff wouldn't let her muster her courage.

He was definitely bluffing, she decided. She had always felt safe in his company, especially since she was unquestionably confident that he wouldn't touch her with a ten foot pole. She had wondered a few times if he would murder her, but she had never felt unsafe when he was around her. Uncomfortable, absolutely. And the idea of spending a week in his, Draco and the other fascists' company, was about as pleasant as catching Dragon Pox. Going would hurt her career, but if she didn't go, Lucius would kill her splendid career. Bastard.

For a second she wondered if it might not be worth it, but she dismissed it as soon as it cropped up. She had fought too long and too hard to give up now. She was also not going to let her career be damaged, she would do both. If she set her mind to it, she could easily do the assignment before having to suffer though a week in hell. With the help of a bit of modern electronics, she could organise and write her preliminary report before going to Malaysia, then finish the report before going off, maybe even finish it in Italy if she had to.

****

Hermione worked all week end and made good progress. She booked a spot on the portkey going to Asia for Wednesday, to return Thursday, leaving Friday to finish the report.

The week flew by, as did Malaysia. She didn't really have time to do any sightseeing or even shopping, which was a shame, but she got her interviews done and had managed to find the problems she was looking for.

While she was away, she had received a note from Lucius that they were leaving from Malfoy Manor on Saturday morning. She was too busy and tired to get worked up about it.

She worked like mad on Friday and even managed to work a spell that would transfer her typing, electronically spell checked, to parchment. She delivered the report and returned home for an early night.

She woke to her alarm the next morning feeling she had just shut her eyes. Tension ached through her body. She had about an hour to shower, pack and get over to the Malfoys. In the shower, she realised that being an engagement, Narcissa was going to be there. This only increased the tension head ache that was pounding in her head. It was now 8.30 in the morning and Hermione wanted a drink. Foregoing the Scotch, she settled for a strong cup of coffee. It would be quite the sensation if she turned up drunk in the morning. But at least it was Venice and she could always explore the city between being ripped to strips by the pureblood fanatics. She had been once before, but she was eight at the time and only really recalled the different ice creams she had every day.

At nine, she apparated to Malfoy Manor with her small travel trunk in hand. She reached the landing outside the main door, amazed that the wards had not turned her away. She guessed Lucius had augmented them to let her through. How very trusting of him, she thought. The large dark door opened without her knocking and a tiny house elf invited her inside.

Hermione smiled gently at the poor house elf, dressed in some clean but worn rag.

"Miss must wait here," The elf said and turned before Hermione could say anything. Hermione noted the rudeness, but dismissed it as the Malfoys' influence.

She waited in the hall for what must have been five minutes. The walls were high and contained paintings of many Malfoy ancestors. They were all staring at the visitor and Hermione found them creepy. She'd never minded the paintings at Hogwarts but keeping your long dead ancestors on the walls was just creepy in her book. Over to the left was the room she had been tortured in. Just fabulous, she thought to herself. Hanging out at my boyfriend, the Deatheater's house, she thought to herself.

She cursed her black humour, because her reward seemed to be Draco coming down the stairs.

"Mudblood." He said.

"Ferret." She said back, refusing to back out of the staring competition he had brought with him.

Luckily he didn't say anything more, just stood across from her staring and waiting.

"Ah, Miss Granger, good you could come." She heard Lucius' drawl from somewhere behind her. "You are ready then," he said to them both, "The portkey will depart in 90 seconds." It was silent while he held his watch, observing the time.

Hermione had expected Draco to start whining about her, but he did. He didn't stop staring either. While he was silent the hostility was unmistakable.

As time neared, Hermione placed her hand on Lucius' and Draco roughly placed his on top of hers. Hermione felt uncomfortable even before the jerk of the portkey.

They arrived in another hall, much lighter than the Manor one. Still blond paintings on the wall. Although a lot more gold and marble. It was actually very beautiful. The sun was streaming through the windows with an intensity that it never achieved in Britain.

Draco turned and left. Leaving her with Lucius. He looked out of place in his dark robes.

"Come." He indicated "I will take you to your room, where you can unpack."

"I am not sharing a room with you." Hermione stated.

"You will have your own room, but you will share the apartment." He said back coolly.

Hermione wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but as long as she had her own room, it could mean anything it liked. She followed him in silence as he led her to wherever they were going.

"The style is very Italian." She finally said as they slowed in front of an ornate white and gold door.

"Yes, it is. It is a Venetian Palazzo. They only really come in one style." He said as he opened the door to what was a large living room with a bedroom on each side. This must be the apartment, she thought. The apartment had a large balcony attached, which gave it a fresh airy feel. Lucius pointed her to her room before entering his own. Hermione dumped her trunk and looked around. The room was bare, but it was very ornate. An ornate bed, with a large closet and a substantial mirrored dressing table.

This must have been Narcissa's room, Hermione thought. Maybe they never slept in the same room, Hermione wondered.

"This is going to be painful on so many levels." Hermione said to herself getting the feeling that she was serving a purpose here. She wasn't exactly sure what, but she was sure being here was serving Lucius some purpose. She took a moment to hate him, before turning her attention to the balcony. The sea view was exquisite, the deep blue water was infinitely relaxing. There were more houses around, with walking paths in stone. It wasn't the Venice she had expected. There were no canals and cramped, derelict looking ancient buildings. It all looked very fresh and very Mediterranean.

"This looks more like an island. Where are we?" She said as she heard Lucius walk up behind her.

"It is an island." He said. "This is Venice Minora. It used to be part of muggle Venice as one point, but it was shifted out to sea. Muggle Venice is about 10 kilometres that way." He said pointing out to sea.

"It was shifted?" She said not quite understanding what he was saying.

"There was a time when wizard society was more integrated with muggle society. Over time sentiments soured and wizard society sought separation, so the wizards shifted their houses out to sea and created this island. We have been coming here for centuries now. The muggles are completely unaware of it of course." He said, standing close enough for the hairs on Hermione's skin to bristle.

"Now what have you brought?" He continued moving into her room. He opened her trunk and went through its contents.

He went through her clothes, turning over her holiday clothes, white shorts, skirts and pants, bright coloured kaftans and summer shoes. Finally he picked up her bikini and held it on one finger.

"Now this will cause a sensation." He said.

"Its a bikini." Hermione said, grasping it off his finger.

"Yes, I know. I was a teenage boy at one time and all teenage boys know about the muggle bikini." He was amused.

"Well, what am I supposed to swim in?" Hermione asked defensively.

"We don't swim." He said.

"What do you mean? Your on an island in the Mediterranean, in late summer, and you don't swim? That's ridiculous! Then what do you do?"

"We take the sun, eat, drink and be merry."

"I wasn't aware you were capable of being merry." Hermione said.

"Well actually, its not so merry, it just is." He said before turning to leave. "Your clothes are quite obviously muggle, but under the circumstances they will have to do."

"I am practically a muggle after all." She finished for him.

He turned to look at her before affirming.

***

Lucius had changed into some kind of light gray robe and left to visit someone or other. He ordered her presence at dinner at 6 o'clock.

Hermione took the opportunity to check out the non Venice, Venice island. There were obvious signs that the buildings had been part of Venice at some point. There were mooring poles and rings that had at one point served the canals and she found a strange little bridge over nothing in particular. But there were also charming little squares, cafes and shops along the rocky winding paths between the streets.

The island was full of pureblood wizards from all over Europe. All were wearing white or gray linen robes to keep cool in the summer heat. There were women wearing more colourful robes as well.

Hermione bought herself a sandwich for lunch and explored the shoreline as well. The island wasn't large and she could easily walk around it in a couple of hours if not less. She did find a nice little secluded rocky bay where she could easily go for a swim, and she decided that she would swim every day. Screw the purebloods, let them sit in their robes and cook.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Hermione got back to the apartment shortly before six. The apartment was the private master bed rooms of the house. The house was actually three stories with a number of reception and entertainment rooms on the first floor, with bed rooms and guest rooms on the other two. There was also a library on the first floor, but Hermione had not had time to check it out. Hermione had also seen the rude little elf scurrying down one of the corridors. Seeing it reminded Hermione of Dobby and she felt a bit sad to think he wasn't at Hogwarts.

Lucius was not there and Hermione settled down in one of the chairs on the balcony. The sun was starting its decent and the whole island had a golden glow. Maybe she could apparate into Venice proper one day, go exploring. Hermione contemplated what Lucius had said earlier, that the pureblood society had been integrated into muggle society here at one time. It didn't seem to fit with what she had heard in History class. Maybe this integration only happened in Italy. It didn't matter she decided.

She heard Lucius enter the apartment and waited as he found her on the balcony.

"You have been out I understand." He said while still standing behind her.

"Yes, I have been exploring the island."

"Feeding that relentless quest for knowledge, I see. Does it meet with your approval?" He asked.

"I didn't know it was sought." She answered standing up to face him. After a moment of silence he continued.

"We will dine here tonight. The festivities will not start until tomorrow, so tonight will be informal. Just us actually. Draco will be dining with his fiance's family tonight and my wife." He said. "Ex-wife, I suppose."

Hermione shifted where she stood, the mention of Narcissa made her uncomfortable considering she was cited as the reason for their divorce, unwitting and unwilling as it was.

Lucius told her to come as they walked down the hall to a less formal dining room. There was a more formal and much larger one downstairs. Hermione smiled at the notion of having to sit in that large room too far apart to make any actual conversation, maybe that would have been better than this smaller intimate family table.

"I feel like I am trespassing." Hermione said before she could guard her thoughts.

Lucius did not respond. "My immediate family is ended in what it was. There are many memories here, which are unrelated to a person such as yourself."

Anger flowed up Hermione's back. "Then why bring me?"

Lucius made the tsk sound like he did when she annoyed him. The roast chicken meal appeared before them. Not what she had expected as she had anticipated something more Italian.

Hermione decided to try another tack, "If this place holds so many memories, then why come back here? Why not go somewhere else, somewhere new."

"Because this is where the family holiday home is, or rather the Malfoy holiday home. This is where we come and so it is."

"And that cannot change?"

"No."

"What if it doesn't work anymore?"

Lucius sat back and regarded her. "Then it must be made to work."

"Strange statement coming from a divorced man." Hermione said knowing it might anger him. To her surprise he seemed amused.

"We can afford a little leeway if it has no fundamental consequences."

"The end of your marriage has no fundamental consequences?" Hermione said disbelievingly.

"No, my child is grown, about to be married. We are past the point of having any more children, so fundamentally it does not greatly matter if we are apart. The marriage has served its purpose in all important respects."

"A very clinical assessment of your marriage." Hermione said, wondering how he could be so cold about the relationship that had been the core of his family for nearly a quarter of a century.

He watched her as he drank some of his red wine. "Marriage is about love to you." He stated as matter of fact.

"Yes." She responded, "Shouldn't it be?"

"Love is not a good foundation for a marriage. Love only causes volatility and eventually discord in a marriage."

Hermione could not help but snort at his cold regard on relationships. "So love has no place in the world."

"I didn't say that, it just doesn't have a place in the marriage contract."

"Blood does." Hermione said.

"Background, heritage, promotion of the family, culture, values and tradition." He said. "These things are all important."

Hermione shook her head slightly, "I believe marriage is about love and support and tackling the world together."

"They are not two mutually exclusive views, a good fit will promote the latter." Lucius said.

"The Weasleys married for love." Hermione said defiantly.

"And look where that got them. They have no means, influence or respect. They live in a hovel without the ability to give their children good prospects for the future. It doesn't make sense to me to breed like rats when you have no prospects to give your children." Lucius said derisively.

"They are well respected and their children are strong enough to pursue anything they want in life. More importantly, they're happy. After everything that they have been through, they're happy. They still love each other and they will always have that support. And maybe they would not be living in the 'hovel' as you call it if you hadn't burnt their house down." Hermione shouted.

"I did not burn their house down. Although I understand it was a fire hazard to begin with."

They sat in silence for a minute. Hermione contemplated if she could annoy him to the point where he would break up with her for the sheer relief of being rid of her.

"They're happy and they love eachother. How could you possibly understand." Hermione said.

"And what would a little girl like yourself know about love. What would you know about anything? You are barely out of your mother's draw strings."

"I know enough thank you. I know that the Weasleys love eachother and can't bear to be apart. I know that the Weasleys have sex every single damn day. They want to be together because the world isn't cold and hard when they are. I also think you have been jealous of them for a very long time. For everything you have, you'll never have what they have." Hermione spat.

"An utterly ridiculous notion." Lucius snorted. "Being jealous of Arthur Weasley. Living in filth and misery. I require my creature comforts, no matter what you say Miss Granger. But I do not begrudge the Weasley's some contentment in their lot if they can find any."

"You are unbelievable." Hermione said, continually amazed by Lucius' arrogance. "All being said and done, Arthur Weasley still has a marriage."

"Don't be cruel, Miss Granger, it does not suit you."

"Don't be cruel." Hermione repeated the words, not knowing what to do with a statement like that. "Now that is rich coming from the man that watched me being tortured in his house. A Deatheater, who is responsible for the misery of countless people. How could you?"

"Easily and I will not apologize for it." Lucius said defiantly. The candle lights were making his eyes glitter as he stared at Hermione. "I did what I had to in order to maintain my family."

"You are unbelievable." Hermione stated. "You support an utter madman to promote your family and then claim that you had to. Don't you understand what you have done."

"Of course I understand." Lucius responded sharply. "It was never my choice to support a lunatic like Voldemort. He was a problem I inherited and walking away was never an option. My only objective was to get my family through."

"No matter what the cost." Hermione said.

"No matter what the cost." Lucius repeated.

"Well I guess you succeeded." Hermione said.

"More or less." He said.

"And you don't feel bad about the things you did." Hermione pushed.

"What good would that do?" He said. "I did what I had to, no more no less. People got hurt and I fully acknowledge that I participated in that. My family was always in more danger from Voldamort than any of you were, with the exception of your friend Potter. I could never understand Voldmort's obsession with the boy, but Dumbledore was a good protector of him."

"Until he died." Hermione said.

"I understand if you wish to punish me to what Voldamort did. Many do. I am not a saint and never have professed to be one."

"But you didn't fight it either." Hermione said. "Snape fought, you didn't."

"He had nothing to lose and he ended up paying with his life. I understand that you have very little regard for my son, but he means everything to me. I could not afford to take the steps that Severus did."

"Did you know?" Hermione asked. "Did you know that Snape was helping the Order?"

"Of course I knew." Lucius said airly. "The man was my best friend for much of my life. It didn't exactly escape me that he was in love with Lily Potter. I always knew he was working against Voldemort, never expected anything else."

"But you didn't help." Hermione said.

"I didn't hinder either. The fact that Voldemort would eventually fall was inevitable."

"But you helped keep him powerful. You put his diary in Ginny's cauldron."

"I did what it told me. I knew Voldemort was weedling his way back and I could not afford to disobey. It would have come to light."

"It almost killed Ginny, not to mention the opening of the Chamber of Secrets which nearly killed me and everyone like me."

"I did not know the mechanics of the diary. I didn't know it was a Horcrux. I knew the goal was to open the Chamber and that the basilisk would seek out muggleborns."

"And it is alright with you to kill all the muggleborns." Hermione said quietly.

"Dumbledore knew the Chamber was open and he knew what would happen. He was an idiot for keeping your lot at the school as long as he did. He should have sent you home." Lucius responded.

"And that would not have been such a bad thing." Hermione snorted.

Lucius cocked his head and stared at her. "And that would not have been such a bad thing." He said.

Either of them could bring themselves to say anything more. The dinner was finished and Hermione's headache had returned with a vengeance. All she wanted was to go to sleep and forget the last couple of months.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Hermione woke up the next morning to sun blaring through the window. For a moment she was completely dis-orientated before realising that she was in the Mediterranean. She had no idea what time it was, but the sun was bright, the sea was sparkling and the air was heating up. She went over the conversation with Lucius the previous night. She hadn't really considered his perspective before and while she could never condone his stance or some of this actions, she could accept that he had a limited number of options. She had never considered that the Deatheaters and their families were in danger, but upon reflection Voldemort went through supporters like they were going out of fashion. Lucius' prejudice against muggleborns was still healthy, she thought dryly.

But it was a beautiful day and Hermione was hungry. The conversation the previous night had made her loose her appetite and her stomach was punishing her for it this morning. She got out of bed and dressed in a pair of white shorts and a turquoise top over the scandalous bikini. She was going for a swim, no matter what. She refused to make this trip completely miserable, but some food was the first order of the day.

She didn't have to go far. Breakfast was served on a table in the apartment living quarters. There were croissants and jam, some cold meats, cheese and coffee. It would do nicely, Hermione thought. As she loaded some ham and cheese into a torn croissant, Lucius walked out of his room. He obviously had not been awake long, as he wore a black dressing robe and a matching pair of draw string pants. The material had a sheen to it and Hermione guessed they were made of silk. The material hugged his figure as he walked holding a copy of the Daily Prophet, with his index finger holding the page he was on. It left his white chest and stomach bare.

Hermione tried to chew her bite as he poured himself a cup of coffee. She couldn't help but watch. The pants rode low on his hips. He obviously slept in those pants or in nothing at all. Her eyes were drawn to the smooth white skin which she knew exactly how it tasted, smelled and felt. She had at one time explored that skin with her hands, her lips and her tongue. She remembered flicking that small nipple with her tongue and him groaning in response, lying on top of him with her hand sliding down his hips before... Unwelcome heat rose in Hermione's body and she turned to find something to focus her attention on before her face lit up like a boiled lobster.

A sailboat on the Horizon came to her rescue. Some muggles sailing around the Med, having the time of their lives. She wondered if she could manage to apparate onto it or if she would miss and end up in the water. Anything, to distract her from where her thoughts were heading. She was going to have dreams tonight, she bet.

Lucius walked away towards the balcony, sat down and started to read his paper again. Hermione watched while he read, the silk pants stretching over his thighs and knees as he sat. Bare feet rolling onto their sides on the tile floor. The hair was immaculate as always. Hermione wondered if he brushed it first thing or if he just woke up that way. She didn't even want to think about what her hair looked like at the moment.

Slowly she walked towards the doorway to the balcony.

"Anything interesting?" She asked.

"Not really." He responded. "Although it seems the Ministry has developed a plan to deal with the tin supply issues." He said while turning towards her with an eyebrow raised.

"Is that right?" Hermione asked absently looking out at the sailboat again. "What's the plan today?"

"Lunch at the Greengrasses. An informal affair, before the more formal dinner tonight where the announcement will make the engagement official. I will require you to attend both. The lunch starts at one, until then you can do whatever suits you."

Hermione bristled at being ordered around. "I am going for a swim." she said.

"As you please." He said after a few moments.

Hermione grabbed her beach bag and made her way out of the house. Sending murderous glances at the Malfoy ancestors as she did so.

It was early but the heat was still radiating off the stones of the streets. Hermione made her way to the secluded swimming spot she had identified the day before. The little bay was still in shadows, but the air was warm as she stripped down to her bikini. She waded out the rocky shore, the water had a bit of a bite as the summer was now winding down, but it was glorious and the water lost its coolness after a minute. Hermione dived under the water and loved the feel of the water on her skin.

When she went on holidays as a kid, she had always pretended to be a mermaid, swimming for hours. The water in the bay was crystal clear and she could see all the rocks underneath, along with the occasional fish. There was a rocky little island some ways out beyond which the sea floor dropped off into the deep.

As she threaded in the water, she noticed a blond figure standing on the shore. Draco was standing between her and her clothes and she cursed herself for her bad luck. He was standing in his gray robes with his hair slicked back, smoking a cigarette. She could even make out the evil little smirk on his face. This must be like Christmas for him, she thought, having found a way to get to her by holding her stuff for ransom or just taking it to leave her dripping wet in her bikini.

She didn't care she decided, she had run through muggle London in her bra and skirt, she could deal with making her way back to her room in a bikini. If she shocked the precious purebloods that would just be too bad. She turned around and swam out to the rocky little island and settled down on the more comfortable rocks to soak up some sun. The sun was wonderful and Hermione felt calm relaxation wash over her. She wasn't sure where in the family it came from, but she tanned at the drop of a hat. There must be some Mediterranean connection somewhere in her family history.

After some time, Hermione looked up and saw that Draco was gone along with her stuff, including her wand. So predictable, she thought. Not having it was a nuisance, but it was only temporary. She settled down for some more sun soaking, revelling as the warm rays heated up her body. As she listened to the water lapping against the rocks, her thoughts returned to the mornings events and her less than completely dressed host standing a few short steps away. She couldn't deny that she had reacted to seeing him so. She wondered what he would have done if she had crossed the distance between. He probably would have been shock, maybe even repulsed. She wondered if he would uphold his promise to take care of her needs. She would probably have to lodge a request in writing she chuckled to herself, chiding herself for the ridiculous direction her thoughts were going. It must be the environment, she decided, the warmth, sun and sea must be affecting her, drawing out the passion that this climate seemed to promote.

When she was ready, she swam back to the shore and walked out of the bay in her bikini. There wasn't a lot of people around, but the few she came across certainly gave her funny looks. At least it wasn't anyone she knew and Draco didn't jump out from behind a corner to gloat. Eventually she would have to pin him down and get her wand back. She walked confidently back to the house, refusing to run.

When she got into the apartment, Lucius was dressed and sitting in one of the living room chairs reading some documents. His glaze followed her from the moment she entered the apartment until she shut her bedroom door behind me. She didn't say a word about why she was walking around dripping wet in her scandalous bikini, why should she.

After showering and dressing, Hermione dressed and returned to the living quarters. It was close to one by the time she appeared wearing white pants and a coral top. Lucius looked her attire over. It looked like he wanted to say something but didn't. Instead he held out his arm as an invitation for her to take it, which she did. The close proximity gave Hermione wafts of his cologne again, it had been a little while since she had noticed it.

He led her through the paths of the island to another grand home that had one day been a Palazzo in Venice. The droning buzz told her that there were quite a few people attending the informal lunch. The whole process was ridiculous, Hermione thought, everyone knew about the engagement. Even she had heard about it at work before even coming here. What was the point of having a formal announcement, was she supposed to play ignorant of the fact until then?

Lucius greeted the Greengrasses and someone or other while Hermione looked around the room which was a compilation of strangers and her least favourite people in the whole world. All the notable Slytherins were there wearing their white and gray holiday robes. Draco was smirking at her from across the room like a cat who had cornered a mouse. Hermione just rolled her eyes. She bet he hadn't looked so confident when he found out that she had slept with his father, she thought to herself. The most immature part of her wanted to walk over to him and rub it in his face. But having decided that she was the most grown up of the two, she decided to just ignore him.

After getting her a drink, Lucius left her to her own devices to talk business with a group of men on one side of the room. Hermione blew a bit of her fringe out of her face as she moved around the room, trying to find a welcoming spot. Let the week from hell officially commence, she thought to herself. She wondered if she could plead a headache.

Eventually she found the Ravenclaw boy she was on friendly terms with. Hermione's relief was palpable as she finally struck up a conversation with someone. His family home was a few houses away and his family had jumped between Slytherin and Rawenclaw for generations. Hermione learnt that he was training to be a healer and was due to complete his training this year. Eventually he had to excuse himself to attend to something and Hermione continued to walk around the room. Lucius was still in conversation with the same men. Draco was holding court in one of the other corners.

Hermione walked outside onto the patio area which had a large fountain in the middle, seating areas to the sides and lawn stretching to the ends of the enclosed courtyard. It was a beautiful house, she decided. Nothing English to distract from the Italianess of the architecture. The garden had all manners of pleasant smelling flowers and herbs.

As she walked along she froze when she spotted a group of women sitting in one of the seating areas. The blond head turning towards her was unmistakeably Narcissa Malfoy's. Her hair was different from her husband and her son's. Her hair was wavy and had a pink ashy undertone to it. Undeniably beautiful with clear blue eyes, a thin straight nose and rose coloured lips. Hermione held her breath as she locked eyes with the beautiful woman.

To Hermione's horror, Narcissa stood up and slowly walked towards her.

"Miss Granger, I believe." Narcissa said. "I believe we met once at a Quidditch match I think it was."

"The world cup." Hermione managed.

"You haven't been to Venice before?" She asked.

"Not this one, I have been to the other one." Hermione responded, "But it was a long time ago."

"The muggle Venice is charming, you should go over some day, but now is not a good time as it is very crowded with muggle tourists at this time of year. Perhaps in the winter, would be better." Narcissa said while looking Hermione over from head to toe. Her gaze wasn't hostile, just curious.

"I hope you enjoy the party. My son is getting engaged." She continued proudly, her eyes softening as she sought the ferret out in the crowd. With a smile she returned to her seat and the conversation she was having with the other women.

Hermione moved on and slowly let out the breath she had been holding throughout the entire conversation. Everyone had watched that exchange, she was sure. Her discomfort made her leave the courtyard eventhough she wanted to explore it more. Instead, she settled on looking over the pictures and artifacts inside. Snobby looking ancestors dressed up to the nines in ludicrously expensive clothes and masses of jewellery. She guessed Astoria had found a husband that would be able to keep her in a manner her family were accustomed to. God she missed her friends. Although she seemed to see them less and less. Ron was gone and effectively had been for a few years. Neville was pursuing his career at Hogwarts. Luna was around when she was around. Ginny and Harry were still so in love, they hardly noticed anyone else. Hermione still had her lunch times with Ginny, but work pressures where stretching those meetings out too. Sometimes she felt like she was loosing them all. And then what would she be left with, a crummy job and a tiny flat in London.

The lunch bell rang out and people started making their way towards the dining room table. Hermione sat with her Rawenclaw friend and the conversation was pretty good. Lucius sat a bit further down the table still conversing with the same group of men. Draco sat even further down on the other side. He looked up as she perused the table and gave her one of his filthiest looks. All's well then, she thought sarcastically to herself. Sooner or later, she was going to have to confront him to get her wand back. Alternatively she would have to ask Lucius to get it back for her, but then it would be obvious that Draco had managed to get her wand off her in the first place, which for a Gryffindor is fairly unforgivable. She would just have to ask him and take whatever verbal abuse he wanted to bestow on her in the process of giving it back.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The lunch ended and Hermione returned to the house for a chance to wind down and relax. Lucius had gone somewhere, she didn't know where. Seeing Narcissa had been stressful, but in actuality not as bad as she had anticipated. There wasn't any clear signs of hostility, but perhaps Narcissa just didn't show emotions, but her emotions were blatant when she talked about Draco. Maybe she just didn't really have any when it came to her marriage, which was in itself a fairly sad state of affairs. Then again, being married to an utter bastard like Lucius, maybe one couldn't harbour great expectations. And Narcissa going googly-eyed over Draco was sweet although utterly revolting, Hermione thought. Maybe Narcissa will be the only one of the Malfoy clan that turned up half way decent, maybe because she was only a Malfoy by marriage. She was related to Sirius after all and he was awesome.

The heat was really intense outside at this point so there was nothing for it but to stay inside or in the shadows. The sea was sparkling and beautiful, and Hermione could lie on her bed and watch it. Before long she had drifted off to sleep.

She woke up about an hour later when she heard someone enter the apartment and walk about. There was a knock on her door which Hermione had to drag herself out of her comfortable bed to answer.

"There will be a dinner party tonight where the formal announcement of the engagement will be made." Lucius said as she opened the door.

"I remember."

"We will leave at seven. Wear the black sateen dress with the thin straps." He ordered before turning away to walk towards his own room. Half way he stopped and turned, "I understand you have a discussion with my ex-wife. Nothing untowards I presume?"

"Nothing, it was fine. She suggested I explore muggle Venice in winter. I thought I might go tomorrow."

"As you wish." He said before continuing to his bedroom. Hermione stared after him for a second then returned to her bed for a spot of reading. The apartment was quiet from then on.

About half an hour to seven, Hermione dressed in her little black dress. She wanted to wear the other one to spite him, but in hindsight, it was too warm for this climate. She managed to tame her hair somewhat with a few clips and applied a little lipgloss. Her faced had managed to developed a nice tanned glow from the sun.

She realised that it might well be time to check in with her parents and pulled out her mobile from her luggage. The signal was too weak. She search all over her room for a stronger spot, but couldn't find one. From there she searched the whole apartment, then the balcony but still couldn't find a good spot.

"What are you going?" She heard from behind her.

"Trying to get my phone attached to a network, but there doesn't seem to be any that reach out here. I want to call my parents."

"Send an owl." Lucius said.

"They prefer muggle communication methods, so much easier and owls look strange in their neighbourhood. I'll just have to call them tomorrow from Venice."

With that they made their way back to the Greengrass house for a second time that day for the dreaded formal dinner. Lucius was dressed in his typical black robes which looked so much more severe than the light gray he had been wearing for the last couple of days.

The house was lit up and the effect looked magical as the warm colours of the setting sun made everything look golden. It really was a beautiful island, Hermione thought.

Inside the cream of wizarding society was dressed to impress. There was enough jewellery to outshine Christmas decorations. They really made her little asymmetrical necklace look demure, but that was alright with Hermione. Astoria Greengrass wore a Slytherin green dress, which Hermione thought was pretty sad. She was as loyal a Gryffindor as they came, but she certainly didn't want to make her engagement about school loyalties. Draco wasn't far away. Hermione decided to bite the bullet as Lucius was in discussions with Mr. Greengrass.

"I want my wand back." She spat at him under her breath.

"I don't know what you are talking about." He responded.

"I saw you on the shore. You took my stuff and I want it back."

"I can't help if you can't keep track of your things Granger." He smirked before walking away.

It certainly would have made a scene if she followed him and yanked on his arm like she wanted to so she had to let it go for now. She chewed her lip for a bit to try to think up a way to get her wand back. She needed it is she was going to go to Venice tomorrow.

A bit further in the room, Narcissa was being escorted by an attractive Italian man. He must have been her date, because he didn't seem to leave her side. Perhaps Lucius could take some pointers on being a date because he seemed to dump her at the first opportunity. He wasn't far away, but like always discussing business. Didn't he ever stop working, she wondered, she had been accused of never relaxing, but Lucius made her look like a country club pool boy. She tried to recall when she had seen him do anything that wasn't work related or for the purpose of achieving his agenda and she couldn't think of any much times. Granted she didn't really know him that well, perhaps he had a hobby stashed away somewhere.

The evening dragged along for some time. Then something seemed to be up, as Lucius joined her and Narcissa and her date came to stand nearby.

"May I have your attention." Mr. Greengrass spoke forcefully from the top of the stairs. "I have a very excited announcement to make."

Mrs. Greengrass had joined her husband on the stairs, as had Astoria Greengrass and Draco. Mr. Greengrass went on to announce the engagement to various 'ohs' and 'ahs' from the gathered crowd. Draco didn't look very excited at all. Astoria was more so, she was actually beaming at the attention. Hermione realised that this engagement had obviously been arranged. If she didn't hate him so much, she could almost muster some sympathy for him, because he didn't look like he was enjoying this as all.

Mr. Greengrass went on to praise the merits of the Malfoy family and their honour of much an advantageous connection. Lucius raised his champagne glass in response to the compliments, while keeping his free hand on Hermione's back. In the end everyone raised their glasses in a toast and Hermione followed suit.

"To Draco and Astoria." The consensus sounded. Hermione raised her glass along with everyone else and was rewarded with another killing look from Draco. God, he can't overlook the presence of a mudblood for anything, can he, Hermione thought.

People were gathering around to congratulate Lucius. As they were excitedly chatting around them, Hermione could feel Lucius' hand burning on her back. It slowly started to move down towards the curves of her behind as if he was absentmindedly feeling the material of her dress. She couldn't deny that the touch was radiating in all directions for her, so she distracted herself my taking some large swigs of her champagne. She was feeling suffocated by the heat of the Island and the heat coming from Lucius' body next to her wasn't helping. His hand remained in place until the dinner bell sounded and Hermione was rewarded with a cool breeze of air as they moved apart.

Hermione wasn't placed down in the kiddy section this time. She guessed that Lucius being a guest of honour meant they didn't want to upset him by placing his date in the Siberian section of the dining table. She was seated across from Lucius, but the table was too large to encourage much discussion across the table. Draco was seated with his now official fiancé further down the table.

Conversation was pretty dry and drab around her, so Hermione focused on the food and the wine. The food was exquisite, as was the wine. As she looked up she would be greeted by Lucius watching her as he listened to the conversation flowing around him. At one point he raised his glass to her and Hermione had to reluctantly follow suit.

At the conclusion of dinner, Hermione was a bit tipsy. She had a bit of a chat with the Rawenclaw boy and she was enjoying herself a little bit. He was telling her about some of the crazy things he came across while healing the general wizarding public. She scanned the room and found Lucius again in a cluster of wizards. He looked up at her as if he felt that she was looking for him. He held her gaze for a moment before returning to the conversation.

Before she knew it, it was time to go home. All in all, it hadn't been as bad as she had expected. The women weren't friendly, they tended to ignore her. The men were often salacious in their looks, but Hermione had grown accustomed to that.

Hermione's voice had lost some of its sharpness and her speech was a little slower than usual. To her the lights were bright and the wind was caressing her skin as they walked home. Hermione walked ahead of Lucius, in a languid stride that would not immediately let passerbyers know that she was well on her way to being inebriated.

Lucius grabbed her elbow as he pulled out his wand and unlocked the door to the house. He guided her up the stairs towards the apartment. In case she should fall he told her, which Hermione thought was ridiculous, because she was feeling completely steady. His hand was burning on her bare skin as he showed her into the apartment.

"I am a bit drunk." She said as she made it inside.

The lights weren't on, but the moon lit up the whole room sufficiently. Actually it made him glow, Hermione noted. He fucking glows, she thought.

"I've noticed." He responded.

"What?" Hermione asked, not sure what he was referring to, hoping like hell she hadn't said that out loud.

"You've had a bit much to drink." He clarified.

"I don't normally, you know. Well sometimes, but ..." She trailed off watching the skin where his neck met the dark black material of his robes, remembering the white skin underneath.

He was watching her, she couldn't make out his eyes in the dark, but she knew he was watching her.

"You always watch me." She said.

He didn't answer. Hermione noticed that he still had his hand on her elbow and the thumb was stroking her bare skin slightly. The movements caused sensation to travel up her arm to her neck. She knew she wasn't supposed to revel in the sensation but she did. There were some warming bells that went off in the back of her mind, but had no mind to pay them heed. Instead she stepped slightly closer and stroked the waistband of his pants with the knuckle of one of her fingers.

With that, Lucius stepped forward and kissed her, demanding that she open her mouth for him. The kiss was deep and hard leaving Hermione's senses reeling. Fire ignited in her belly and she drew a little closer seeking more sensation and heat. Before she knew it, her skirt was being pulled up over her thighs and his hands were stroking her thighs and the sensitive flesh in between. As his lips departed hers to explore the lengths of her neck, her legs were travelling up to envelop him based on the support from his hands pressing her to him. Somewhere in the muted back of her mind a voice was saying, what the...

She didn't notice how but they were laying on something soft. The weight of him only increased the painful tension that had taken over. His lips returned and Hermione couldn't fight his deep exploration of her mouth. She wanted more, needing release. She could feel the head of his cock between her legs begging entrance. Hermione's tug of his lower lip between her teeth was all the invitation he needed and he drove into her to the hilt. Hermione gasped from an indiscernible mixture of pleasure and pain, but the tension was unbearable. Another couple of deep thrusts and Hermione was starting to come. Another couple and so was he, finishing with a still moment of brutally hard togetherness which brought a fresh set of waves as she convulsed around him.

He let out a shuddering breath as he collapsed on top of her and Hermione let the sated and heady feeling lead her into sleep as his heavy weight constricted her breathing. As her mind was slipping into its sleeping state, the ever present voice in the back of her mind told her that there would be hell to pay for this. She was gone before she noticed him get off her.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Hermione woke feeling like she had been sucking on a hairball all night. Her throat was dry and her head was pounding. There was also another taste, a familiar one which made her sit up too quickly for her aching head. She hoped it was a dream but the soreness told her it most definitely wasn't. A wave of nausea almost had her dry reaching brought on either by her hangover and the sudden realisation of what she had done. She didn't want to delve. After the nausea settled she sunk her face into her hands and cursed herself. Oh god, what was Ginny going to say, and Harry.

She was still wearing her black dress, but she was covered with a blanket that had come from she didn't know where. God knew where her underwear was.

She dragged her aching body into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Another good scrub was in order. She cursed herself again. Last time was bad enough being under the influence of a strong love potion, but it seemed that an amount of alcohol would do the trick just as well. And she wasn't that drunk, she remembered all of it.

She dressed in her white skirt and a light red chiffony top over her bikini. It was her second bikini, a cute little top with matching bottoms that tied at the sides. She was not going to break her promise to swim every day. She was supposed to go to Venice today, but at the moment that was a bit much considering the state of her head, maybe in the afternoon. Hermione guessed it was time to face the music, but wishing that he wasn't in the apartment. Maybe he was still asleep and she could sneak out. Her luck was not that good though, she cursed. He was sitting on the balcony in his black dressing robe and silk pants, reading the Prophet and holding a glass of orange juice. He looked completely fresh and relaxed.

"You took advantage of me." Hermione said. "I was drunk and you took advantage."

He didn't look up from the paper, but slowly turned the page. "If you are going to offer Miss Granger, I am going to take it." He said, "Maybe you should take more care not to get yourself into states where you will do things you will regret."

She wanted to protest that he hadn't acted very gentlemanly, but considering who she was dealing with she saved her breath. "Is there anything I need to do today?" She asked instead.

"There is another dinner tonight. You will also have to prepare for the ball tomorrow night."

"Ball, what ball? Oh please god no. I don't have a dress, I can't go. Who travels with a ball gown on their holiday? That's insane. I can't go." She was jabbering and decided to just shut up.

"This isn't a holiday, this is an engagement announcement. You have to go." Lucius said and looked up from the paper. "You will have to buy one. Do you need some money?"

"No, I'm fine. I can buy my own clothes thanks." She said tersely. "I am going for a swim." She finished and made her way to the door with her towel.

She walked down to her swimming spot and waded in. No Draco this time. Thanks for small mercies, she thought to herself. She would have to get her wand back if she was going to go over to Venice, so she decided that she had to find whatever hole he kept himself in.

The water was gorgeous and it washed away any remaining traces of her hangover. She had also managed to calm herself down about what happened the night before. Everyone does things like that when they've had a few, it wasn't the end of the world. Her friends would understand, surely the first time she had sex with him would be more of a shocker, right? He was technically her boyfriend and at this age it is practically expected that you have a bit of action on holiday. Well in the muggle world it is anyway. They were never going to understand, she finalised. Luna might. Perhaps she would just not tell them.

After her swim she walked through the streets, to have a quick scan through the shops for a ball gown. Now she was going to have to spend the day trying to find some stupid gown. Maybe she could buy one in Venice. She did find a gown in the end, it was a shimmery dove gray with a red sash. It cost a couple of weeks of her salary, but at least it was one problem solved. After lunch she would deal with the other problem.

In the afternoon, the rude little elf told her that Draco was in the billiard room. Hermione tried to smile kindly at the elf, but it turned its back on her before she had a chance. Poor brainwashed thing, she thought before marching in the direction of the billiard room.

Sure enough, Draco was there, playing billiards on his own. He had a large glass of fire whiskey balancing on the end of the table while he took his shot.

"If it isn't the little mudblood." She said and took a swig of his drink.

"Its not even four yet and your drinking." Hermione said disapprovingly.

"You weren't averse to indulging yourself last night." He responded to a blooming flush on Hermione's face. "What do you want?" He demanded, "I'm busy."

"You know why I'm here. I want my wand back. Give it to me."

"You mean this." He said and pulled it out of his back pocket. "You know people like you shouldn't be allowed wands."

"Hankering for the glory days are we. Guess what Draco, you lost. Sorry." She said with an exaggerated shrug.

"You little bitch. You want it, come and get it."

She gave him the most deadly stare she could muster. If he wanted her to wrestle him for it she would. She had managed to punch him in third year, she would go it again if she had to. But as she walked around the table towards her, he threw the wand into the corner of the room and grabbed her wrist. When tugging on her arm wouldn't free her wrist, she slapped him across the face as hard as she could. In return, he twisted her arm painfully up her back and bent her over the billiard table. Hermione was pinned to the table with pain shooting up her arm if she moved. She tried to kick him in the chins, but it only made him pin her legs to the table with his frame.

"Maybe we should see what all the fuss is about. What do you think, hm? You seem to like it from purebloods, so maybe I should give you what you want." He said in a steely, steady voice before pushing up her little skirt to reveal her bikini bottoms. "What have we got here?"

"Draco no, stop." Hermione said in a determined voice. "I said no."

A twist of her wrist made Hermione wince. He ran his fingers along the edge of the bikini bottom until he found the bow on the side. "Now what is this?" He said as he slowly pulled one of the strings.

"Stop." Hermione said again, but her voice was starting to tremble with fear. "Please Draco, stop."

As the knot came undone, the bottom fell down towards her feet. Draco stroked her ass lightly with his fingertips before pressing himself against her behind. His breathing was getting heavy and Hermione was ready to start crying.

A voice outside the room made him pause. It was a girl's voice calling his name. Hermione wanted to cry in relief. "Ha." She said, "Run along Draco your fiancé is calling."

"That's Pansy. Not my fiancé." He said, obviously beyond annoyed.

"Whatever."

"You make a sound, I swear I'll tear your shoulder out." He said as he twisted her wrist slightly. The pain was enough to make Hermione bite her lips together.

He waited for what seemed like ages, but when the voice was coming closer he swore and let go of her. "We'll finish this later."

Over my dead body, Hermione thought, but she didn't want to say anything until she was well out of reach. Draco strode towards the door and Hermione let out a small cry when she was alone in the room. Her tears were building up in the back of her eyes as scrambled for her wand in the corner of the room. She ran towards her bedroom and locked the door behind her before crawling into her bed crying.

Hermione stayed in her room until she calmed down, then scrubbed her way through another steaming hot shower. What an idiot she had been, she told herself. She had been treating him like a child, like the boy she knew and hit in third year. He wasn't a boy and he had been a Deatheater for heaven's sake, how could she have been so stupid to underestimate that. God only knew the things he had done to people like her during that time.

She stayed in her room until she heard Lucius' voice.

"Your son attached me." She said in the steadiest voice she could manage.

Lucius seemed to freeze in his tracks as she said this. Hermione didn't know how he would react, but she was not going to keep this quiet. He searched her eyes for further meaning to her statement.

"Are you injured?" He asked calmly after a moment.

"No, I'm fine. I was just a bit shocked."

"What happened?" He asked quietly.

Hermione told him what happened in the billiard room.

"I am sorry," he said, "I will speak to him."

"Is that all?" She asked.

"As it was interrupted, there is nothing specifically that you can charge him with." Lucius responded, "As his father I could hardly promote such an action, but he will apologize and I promise you that it will never happen again."

"Fine." Hermione said and returned to her room. She heard Lucius leave the apartment.

He returned about half an hour later with Draco in tow.

"Miss Granger," he called, "Draco is ready to apologize."

This should be good, Hermione thought to herself. Opened the door and stepped outside, noting that Lucius was holding the bag Draco had nicked. Draco wasn't looking at her and Lucius moved towards the Balcony to leave Draco to apologize.

"Miss Granger," he started, "My behaviour was atrocious and I apologize. I promise that I will never act in such a manner again and will always treat you with respect."

As he finished his apology which sounded neither insincere nor sincere, he brought his hand up towards his chest fast enough to make Hermione flinch. Draco's surprised expression told her that he had definitely seen her flinch and he progressed to get a cigarette out of his shirt pocket. He looked around to see if Lucius has seen it too, but he was looking out to sea. Once it had been established that the flinch was unobserved, Draco's lips slowly spread into a smile, or something like a mix between his smirk and a full on smile.

Hermione was pretty sure that was what Draco looked like when he was truly happy. Not something she had ever seen before, but he looked like the cat that got the cream.

"I hate you." She whispered quietly.

"I know." He mouthed without making a noise. His eyes shining as he continued in a loud voice, "Please forgive my ill conceived actions and accept my deepest apology."

You're a lying sack of shit, Hermione thought, but she didn't say it. Even though his apology didn't come across as heartfelt, it felt like a fragile truce. She certainly had no desire to escalate things with Draco at this point, knowing full well that he probably would if she called for it.

With his apology done, he stared at Hermione for a few seconds before cracking a small version of his typical smirk and leaving.

"He will never accost you again." Lucius said.

Never is a long time, Hermione thought to herself, but maybe.

"I will take you to Venice." Lucius said. "You said you wanted to go. We will have dinner there."

"That is alright, you have a dinner party to go to remember. If its alright I will skip it. I'm ok, but I am not exactly in the mood for a party."

"No, I will take you. We will have dinner there. They can do without us for a night."

Afraid I'm going to run away, Hermione asked silently. The thought had occurred to her a few times that afternoon. She didn't have a portkey, but she could certainly take the next flight back to London from the nearest airport.

"If you will get ready, we will leave shortly."

"Fine." She said.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Hermione arrived in muggle Venice through sidealong apparition. They arrived in a bar/restaurant that was frequented by local magical people and squibs. It seemed some of the local wizards couldn't afford to live on Venice Minora and stuck to muggle Venice.

By the time they got there, the sun was starting to set. They walked around the streets for a while, looking at the architecture. There were still a large number of tourists around the Grand Canal, but they petered out the further away from the Grand Canal they went. Lucius knew the city well. He explained that as a teenager, he had made a few trips over each summer. Hermione could imagine that Venice Minora would feel pretty small for teenagers. Although the idea of Lucius Malfoy seeking out the muggle world for entertainment, even as a teenager, was just odd. Frankly, she couldn't imagine him as a teenager. She wondered if he was just as horrible as Draco.

When they skirted close to the touristy areas again, Hermione came across an international newsagent and bought a couple of magazines. She also excused herself and made a call to her parents. In the end, he led her to another restaurant frequented by the magical community. It looked pretty uninviting from the outside, but once on the inside, it had a lovely balcony placed over one of the smaller canals. It was very quiet and private, with very little chance of muggles stumbling across it.

"Do you never go to muggle restaurants?" Hermione wondered.

"No."

"The muggle world has nothing of interest for you?" She asked.

"I am not a part of the muggle world like you are. I have no ties to it." He said while the waiter came over to provide them with water and menus.

It was all pasta and pizza, like most of the restaurants in the region. Even though this was a wizard restaurant, it was just like a muggle restaurant.

"I just can't see the difference between this restaurant and the muggle one down the street." She said.

"There is a huge difference. This one is magical and the other one is not."

Hermione still didn't understand. It made no sense to her.

"So they must be segregated." She stated without any conviction.

"Yes."

"Why? I don't understand. Is that why you hate me so much, because I go between?"

"You, Miss Granger, belong to the muggle world." He said, looking at her.

"How can you say that? I have just as much right to be here. I am magical whether you like it or not."

"You are magical. That is not the issue, but you are culturally a muggle, you have their values, you think like they do and you behave accordingly. You were raised by muggles, and I am sure it was a lovely existence, but it does not serve you well in the wizard world."

"So I should be excluded because I have muggle parents?" She said unbelievingly.

"You should be excluded because the muggle culture is incompatible with wizard culture." He said.

"That's not true." Hermione snapped as she was getting pretty heated by the conversation. "I don't understand how you can be so hateful, I haven't done anything to you."

He accepted his drink from the waiter and sat back in his chair. "You reject everything about our culture and our values."

"No I don't!" Hermione shot back disbelievingly.

"I would go as far to say that there is precious little you like about wizard culture and values." He said. "For example, you disapprove of our relationships with other magical creatures."

"Because you're wrong." She stated. "You treat other creatures atrociously. How can you even defend enslaving another creature for you own benefit."

"That is the perspective according to your values. The relationship between wizards and elves, which is what I presume you are eluding to, has existed for over a thousand years. Contrary to what you believe it serves the needs to both. There has never been an elves revolt. We don't chain them, they are free to leave at any time if they choose."

"But you have brainwashed them into thinking they need to serve you." Hermione almost yelled.

"Maybe they just need to serve and the relationship between us and them is meeting their needs."

"They should be encouraged to be independent. To live for themselves." She tried to explain.

"Those are your values Miss Granger. Values that are prevalent in the muggle world, but they are not our values." He said. "You disapprove of how we manage our affairs, you disapprove of how we do not balance family and work. You probably disapprove of how our legal system works and I would say you definitely disapprove of how we like to keep our traditions and values."

Hermione knew that she would have trouble arguing. Although she loved magic and the wonder in it, the magical world was becoming more and more grating for her. She hated how she was never judged on her merits, or that nothing she had learnt at school has been discovered within the last four hundred years. How all forms of progress was attacked and discouraged. She would never have gone as far as to say that she had rejected the magical world because she had always been focus on how it rejected her.

"So I should just be excluded?" She finally asked.

"You are not the first muggleborn we have had to contend with Miss Granger. Like your kind, from the moment you enter our world, you attack our culture and try to bring about change. We are literally founded on not changing, it has been the cornerstone of our survival as a society. We have tired of this incessant attack from the values of other cultures. It cannot be inconceivable that we would seek to protect ourselves and our way of life."

"So the solution is to round up and strip muggleborns of their wands." Hermione said.

"Voldemort was a deranged psychopath. He hijacked our concerns as a society for his own purposes. His aim was never for the wellbeing of our society."

"So I am public enemy number one. Am I so dangerous then?"

"Your influence can be." He said.

"Is that why Draco hates me?"

"I find it best not to dwell on Draco's intentions." Lucius chuckled, but after a moment he said. "You have all the privileges of wealth and none of the responsibility. If I am not mistaken, you are free to pursue any way of life that suits your liking. You parents may even change their lives to suit you. Draco does not have that luxury, he must do what is expected of him. He hasn't had an easy time of it lately. Many still think of him as a pariah because of him being included amongst the Deatheaters. I know the war was very unpleasant for him, he lost some of his friends and many blame him for their own losses. Growing up a Malfoy was not the easy and privileged life he anticipated, and now he has to marry a girl he has no affection for. It would be fair to say he is very angry, maybe with me most of all, but you are a good target for that anger."

"Its a pretty dear price for your culture." She said quietly.

"I think he reacts so strongly to you because you have no limitations on what you do, who you marry or even if you choose to. I understand that in your world you could even choose to be with someone of your own sex if you wanted to."

"That is true." Hermione chuckled, "But my leanings don't go in that direction."

They ate in silence for a while.

"I just can't believe that there can't be room for a little diversity." Hermione said, not able to set go of their conversation.

"We have been losing pureblood families at a alarming rate over the last 100 years. I think the general consensus now is that if we start relaxing our guard, we will lose our society completely. Perhaps something that would be just as well in your eyes, or could you be concerned for the survival of your enemy."

"You're not my enemy." Hermione said, not entirely sure of what that meant. Actually she wasn't sure about how she felt about the pureblood existence being threatened. On one level, they were the heart of the wizarding world, on the other she still believed that they would all be better off if they let go of their staunch opposition to change. "In the end, I just want everyone to be happy."

"I'm not sure that is possible."

"I guess that if where we were raised differently." She said feeling drained. "Lets go back now."

They apparated from the restaurant back to Venice Minora. Hermione needed a drink. They sat on the balcony for a while, nursing whiskeys. The whole island seemed still and quiet. It was also fairly dark except for the occasional light from a wand moving on the paths below.

"It really is quite beautiful here." Hermione said.

After a while, Hermoine retired to bed, she actually felt quite beaten, although she had a much better understanding of the prejudice towards her. Some of it was just plain prejudice, but some of it was fear for what she brought and wanted. She had never seen herself as influencial in the way Lucius had expressed. She still felt they were wrong about most things, but could grudgingly acknowledge that she was approaching things from a different perspective. All she knew was that she wouldn't change her background for the world. She would hate having to be in Draco's position in having to marry someone his family chose for the preservation of tradition.

***

The next morning, Hermione went down for a swim as usual. The water was cool and clear. The discussion the previous night had kept her awake for a while. She felt a little sluggish today; the day of the stupid ball. She wondered how it was going to go, if Draco was going to be nasty. She felt a little sorry for him because of his predicament, but he was still the biggest git on the planet.

His joy at making her flinch was pathetic, she thought. As if making a girl flinch was something to be proud of. Git. What was it that he got from her fear, she wondered. Maybe it was the little bit of control he had in his life. She had never given him the upper hand and by making her flinch he had taken it. If she made a fuss and took it back, their little war would be on again. Giving in grated on her pride and he didn't deserve any generosity from her, even if his life sucked. On the other hand, it was a war about nothing and maybe she could just let him have his little victory. She could just grow up and let him have it if it meant that much to him, because in all honesty what did it matter in the scheme of things. With that she dismissed any thoughts of him.

She soaked up the sun on her little rocky island. The sun warmed her body and it felt heavenly. The water lapped gently at her feet and she was happy that she could to this, while the stupid purebloods were somewhere sweating puddles in the heat. She wondered in Lucius was jealous. For all his professed virtues for the protection of the pureblood way of life, he had still dragged a mudblood here with him, and had sex with her. The thought sent a shiver through her body, informing her of another home truth; she wanted to have sex with him.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Hermione was dreading this ball. What was it with purebloods and their balls. She hadn't been to one since the end of the war, when celebrations were practically mandatory for those involved. Saying that, it was part of getting engaged in this society, so she would just have to brace herself for more of them as her friends were starting to move in that direction.

The gown she bought was beautiful and she was secretly proud of it. It may actually serve a few balls in the near future, she mused. It was strapless, so a bra was out, but that wasn't the end of the world, she would just have to keep the jumping around to a minimum.

A light dinner had been brought to her room around six. The balls were not really eating affairs, so most had their dinners prior to going. Lucius was out somewhere doing whatever it was he did. He would be in his black dress robes that evening, she guessed. He would probably look good in them, he usually did.

She decided that she didn't mind being here. Not excited about preparing for a ball, but didn't mind being here on the island with him. She wasn't quite sure what to make of that, considering the unconventional background to whatever this was. He called her a companion, but she was sure her companionship was serving a purpose she wasn't completely aware of. On the other hand, he did not see fit to let her go anytime soon. He had made it clear that he would sleep with her anytime she offered. The thought made her shiver a bit again.

Would she seriously mind being his girlfriend, she wondered. Maybe it wasn't worth thinking about, maybe this was just some ruse to cover what he was really doing. She wanted to know, but every time she brought the subject up, he shut her down. She wished she could talk to Ginny about it.

They weren't leaving for the ball until eight. So she had a good hour and a half to eat and get ready. The sun was getting on with another beautiful end of the day. Apparently there was a storm blowing through tomorrow, so Hermione sat and enjoyed the last rays of the sun, because she may not see it for a few days.

About an hour later Hermione could hear Lucius enter the apartment and then his room. It was time to get the gown on and to do something with her hair. He came knocking about half an hour later. Hermione was ready, so she stepped out into the apartment.

"The gown suits you. You look suitable." He said.

Hermione could tell he was not in the best moods.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"No everything is fine, I have just been having a conversation with Draco."

"Well, that will ruin anyone's mood." She said and got a hint of a smile as a response. "Is there a problem?"

"He doesn't want to marry."

"Ah." Was all Hermione could say. She could understand, but knew that her insights on the subject weren't wholly welcome. Piping up now would just lead to a rehash of their conversation last night.

He led her out of the house and again they walked towards the Greengrass' house. Again the whole house was sparkling. The men were in dark robes and the women in bright gown. She had thought the jewellery was excessive before, now they seemed to have cleared their safes. She was going to get eye strain if she had to put up with all this sparkle the entire evening.

"Do we have to stay the whole time?" She asked.

"We can leave early if you wish." He responded to which she nodded in return.

There was a queue at the receiving line. The Greengrass' were welcoming their guests with Astoria and Draco. She got more of an acknowledgement from Draco than anyone else in the line, and that wasn't more than a quick nod.

Once inside the dancing had already started. Hermione couldn't believe she was there, at a ball, prancing around in a gown. It just didn't go with her lifestyle.

"Do you want to dance?" Lucius asked her.

"If its all the same, I think I would prefer to skip it." She responded. This seemed to please him and he excused himself to go get some drinks. He came back with a large glass of champagne for her.

"Are you trying to get me drunk?" She asked.

"Yes, so try to make an effort will you." He said with a raised eyebrow.

Hermione cracked a laugh. So there it was, a proposition between two sober, consenting adults to engage in joint plans later.

"Will do." Hermione said with a mock salute. Hermione couldn't help but to smile into her drink before taking a sip.

Lucius excused himself and said he needed to talk to one of his business associates. Always working, Hermione thought. Then again, you would have to do something to keep you sane in this circus. When she was ten, a ball would have seemed like the ultimate of grown up things to do, but now, at twenty five, it just seemed naff. She saw Astoria holding court on one of the seating areas, very much acting like the belle of the ball. And she was, it was her engagement ball, she had probably been told about this day since she was in nappies. She was calling for Draco, who was standing further away with a group of Slytherins. She saw him tense and fight an urge to roll his eyes.

Poor Draco, Hermione thought to herself, but couldn't help to smile at his predicament. Git.

Across the room was Narcissa Malfoy with her Italian 'younger man'. She looked like she was having a great time. The Italian man was leading her onto the dancefloor for a waltz that was starting up and she was smiling beamingly to the ladies around her.

I really, truly can't stand these people, Hermione thought to herself. She saw Lucius standing with a group of men outside on the terrace, deep in discussions. Being part of his life meant being a part of this and that might just be a high price to pay. But there may be some compensations, maybe she would find out more about that tonight.

With that, she went and had a chat with her Rawenclaw friend. He still seemed the only person willing to talk to her.

The night dragged on until Lucius joined her again and asked if she was ready to leave.

She wanted to say from the moment she arrived, but didn't considering what the plan was now. It may have come out the wrong way. He put his hand on the small of her back and excused them from the people around them. They said their farewells from the hosts and left.

The outside air was still warm enough to feel comfortable on her bare arms. The moonlight was bright tonight and they didn't need to light their wands to guide their way.

Once they got inside the apartment, the room was well lit by the moonlight. Lucius took off his black outer robes leaving the white, crisp shirt underneath, and went to light one of the lamps, but Hermione stopped him. She wanted to see him in the moonlight again.

He sat down on one of the large chairs and watched her. Hermione's psyche wanted to blush, but she really didn't want to. Enough of the blushing, she decided. Instead she reached back and undid the zipper at the back of her gown. She let the gown fall to the floor leaving her completely exposed except for her underwear. He didn't move, but just watched her. She stepped forwards and slowly climbed into his lap.

He traced his hand up her bare arm, across her shoulder and down the outside of her breast, towards her waist. The warmth of his hand and his legs under her was starting to lull her senses. He leaned forwards to kiss her, but it was just a taste and Hermione was left wanting more. Instead, he cupped his hands around her cheek and let his thumb travel across her cheek bone and across her lips. The touch was torture on her sensitised lips and her mouth was going dry from breathing.

When he lifted her up on her knees a bit and took one of her breasts in his mouth, her breathing was getting much more laboured. His hands were travelling down to her hips and kneading the skin down towards the inside of her thighs. She felt the heat building between her legs.

Hermione sat back and started to undo the buttons on his shirt, one by one, revealing the white skin underneath. It glowed and she exposed more of it by guiding the shirt over his shoulders and down his back. He was beautiful. This is not a boy, Hermione thought to herself before finding his mouth and inviting him inside hers.

"Come." He said, while nudging her off the chair so he could rise. He led her to his bedroom and Hermione followed holding onto his hand suffering from the cold of his absent body. He kissed her again as he guided her down onto the bed and lay down on top of her. Hermione's leg was sliding up and around his backside to increase the contact between their bodies. Hermione felt like she was burning up at this point and the tension in her body was compelling her to seek more. His weight was glorious and she slid her hands around his back to hold him closer. He trailed down her neck with his mouth and Hermione couldn't keep her enjoyment quiet between the deep intakes of breath.

"Now. Don't make me wait." She said raggedly. He complied and pulled her underwear down over her knees and feet, and then undid his pants. Hermione felt like she was losing her senses when he entered her, she would not comprehend anything other than the sensation. There was nothing she could do other than to angle her hips to meet the momentum. She was starting to come already and him sinking into her again and again was extending the convulsion and it felt like it would go on forever. But as he increased the speed and finally came, Hermione received a new explosion of sensation.

As her breath slowly returned along with her sense, she said, "I'd put up with a ball every night for that."

He laughed and slid off her. They stayed in bed for a while, with him teasing the skin on her arm until in broke out in goosebumps.

"That is rather special." He said in a low tone more to himself. "You are so beautiful when you come."

Hermione appreciated the compliment. She couldn't really remember anyone calling her beautiful lately in any context.

They made love again a little while later, then fell asleep to the lapping of the sea and the cooler sea breezes coming into the window. This must be heaven, Hermione thought completely sated. There was nowhere else she wanted to be at that moment.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Hermione waded into the water in her swimming spot the next day. The water was warm even though it was cloudy and dark. The island was quiet this morning, she didn't see anyone on the way there. Lucius had left fairly early and said he would be back in the afternoon. There was another dinner on that evening, but a light one to let people recover from the previous night's celebrations. The thought of her own private celebrations the previous night made her smile. Hermione had planned to read and lounge around today. There wasn't much else to do as the storm was approaching from the south. Apparently, late summer storms were fairly typical around these parts.

Hermione returned to the apartment for a quick lunch and settled down to read. The beginning of the storm could be seen out at sea from the balcony. After a few hours of reading, Lucius returned and Draco followed him into the apartment. Lucius went to the balcony and cast a spell to protect it from the weather. This left a bubble around the balcony that kept out the wind and the rain.

"We used to watch the storms every summer." He said. "They really are magnificent."

They pulled up some chairs and settled down to watch the lightning and the rushes of windswept rain. Hermione had never really considered storms to be a spectator sport, but sat down in the chair that was provided for her.

"How was your lunch with the Greengrass'?" Lucius asked Draco.

"Fine." Draco said through gritted teeth. "I spent most of it trying to think of ways to murder her with the cutlery."

"You must learn to get along with her." Lucius said and Hermione watch the exchange between the two. "Once an heir is secured, you need not be in eachother's way so much."

This conversation was making Hermione uncomfortable. While Draco deserved all the pain in the world, no one really should have to marry someone they didn't want to for the sake of an heir. Although there had been quiet speculation that the fertility of the pureblood families was dropping, not that anything had been reported on the subject, it was still quietly being discussed. She had also heard that miscarriages were rising as well. So she guessed they couldn't take for granted the time to consider her family options like she could. She had a good ten years before she even had to seriously think about it.

Although it was a wonder beyond wonder that she was sitting next to Draco Malfoy without either of them ripping the other to bits. A bit surreal when he actually asked her a serious question.

"Don't you parents have any concern who you marry?" Draco asked her.

"No, as long as I'm happy with my choice."

"And if they don't approve?"

"They would probably mention anything that bothered them, but its my choice." She said, knowing that she was wandering into an ongoing private discussion, but she wouldn't abandon her position.

"Even if they're completely inappropriate?"

"If they make me happy they're not inappropriate." She responded.

Draco snorted disapprovingly then lit a cigarette. Hermione wondered how he could fight his own lack of choices then disapprove of hers at the same time.

"I'm going to get pissed." He said up and stood up. After flicking his just lit cigarette out of the bubble shield, he left.

"He really is charming." Hermione said once he'd gone. Her statement made Lucius smile.

"He is angry." He said.

"He kind of has the right to be. Its barbaric to make him marry someone he doesn't want to."

"It is our way. He will do it like everyone else before him." Lucius said forcefully. "In our world you make your choices for the benefit of your family."

"How is it a benefit to anyone to be tied to a person they don't like."

"You don't understand, you haven't had to make any sacrifices for your family."

"I would sacrifice for my family, but it all depends on what is worth sacrificing for. They wouldn't ask me something stupid like ensuring blood purity, something that means nothing."

"It means a great deal to us." He snapped.

"No, it doesn't. Its a proxy for social inclusion, status and exclusivity in your world. It doesn't have anything to do with blood or genetics. If that was your true concern you would never marry someone who is as closely related as you all are."

"So we should all marry muggleborns?" He said jeeringly.

"No, but atleast be honest about your prejudices."

"I believe we have had this discussion already." He said sounding tired.

"If I am so destructive, then why am I here?" Hermione demanded. "I know one of your friends or acquaintances or whatever you call each other, played a practical joke on you. Ha ha, really funny. So what is this, some kind of revenge?"

"I am not some school boy who can't deal with the effects of a love potion, Miss Granger."

Hermione froze for a moment, knowing there was some implication in that statement. She could feel the hairs on her arm raising up. "So, you could have counteracted the effects."

"I was never under the influence of a love potion."

Hermione felt electricity run through her entire body now and a forceful wave of nausea was coming on.

"So what was this?" Hermione stammered after a moment.

"My wife wanted a divorce, so I gave her cause." He said.

"You gave me the potion." Hermione said disbelievingly. "Oh my god. You used me."

"And then you charged me." She said when he didn't respond.

"Well, I certainly couldn't have you charge me, so I charged you to prevent that happening. Things would have gone really badly if you charged me considering our backgrounds. Admittedly, things didn't go exactly as planned."

"Really!" She yelled, "What, I'm not in prison."

"That's not what I mean." He said.

"Why me?" She demanded.

"You weren't one of my wife's friends to begin with and you had no other attachments."

"You can't just play with people like this. I can't believe you used me. No actually, I really did know you were. And I was stupid enough to go along with it." She said near a hysterical laughter.

"Miss Granger, I understand that you are angry, but.." He started, but Hermione put her finger up with enough force to show that she did not want to hear another word.

"I am going to go now." She started to leave, but suddenly returned. "You utter fucking bastard."

Hermione slammed her door behind her and shoved her stuff into her little bag. The gown would never fit, but its not like she ever wanted to see that again. She swore at her own stupidity as she fumbled with the clasp of the stupid little asymmetrical necklace. She never wanted to see that again either. With the necklace discarded and her meagre belonging in hand she apparated over to Venice proper.

She got a thorough drenching as she arrived. She had actually forgotten about the storm. A portkey back to England would be too difficult to arrange, so she would have to fly back. Luckily she had taken her emergency credit card with her.

She made her way to the train station and hopped on the next train to Milan. There were closer airports, but that was the largest, so it would be easier to find a short notice seat. The train was full of tourist and the compartment had a wet dog smell to it as everyone was drenched to some degree of another. Hermione was stuck between Norwegian pensioners and a group of Australian backpackers who all updated their lipglosses and pulled out their ipods as soon as the train started moving. At least these people make sense, Hermione thought to herself.

It was at least 1 in the morning by the time Hermione got back to her apartment. She had decided to go to work the next day, might as well try to salvage what was left of her career after abandoning her post for most of the week.

Hermione made it to work on time the next morning, but it had been a fitful sleep and she was dead tired. She spent the morning clearing the mail that had built up on her desk. She knew that there was a possibility that Lucius would carry out his threat and get her fired, but she really didn't care anymore.

At lunchtime Ginny came to collect her. Hermione tried to make an excuse by saying she was hungry and had tonnes of work, but Ginny wouldn't have it.

"So, what happened?" Ginny said, when they sat down at the cafe.

"Ugh, I don't want to talk about it." Hermione said.

"That bad huh?" Ginny asked. "I guess you slept with him then."

Hermione's mortified expression and wince only confirmed it.

"As it turns out he was using me to give his wife cause for their divorce."

"That doesn't make sense, he ended up losing so much money." Ginny said. "But I guess it all goes to Draco in the end, so it doesn't really matter. But why take you on holiday like a month and a half after the divorce?"

"And Draco tried it on."

"No!!" Ginny said and started laughing. "He is such a sleeze, during his engagement week too."

"It was just awful. There were these horrible events every night, all of them dressed up to impress each other. And everyone ignored me because I'm a muggleborn, of course." Hermione continued. Actually just talking to Ginny was making her feel better, and she could see the humour in some of it.

"So he finally let you go." Ginny said after they settled down a bit.

"No, I just left. I'd had enough. I don't care if he gets me fired. I really don't."

"But you will have to see him at work all the time." Ginny said chewing her lip.

"I've been thinking maybe I should go to University." Hermione said carefully. Actually the thought had occurred to her that morning.

"That would mean leaving the Ministry and much of the wizarding world behind. Harry said if you left, he didn't think you'd ever come back." Ginny said.

"You guys are the only thing that is really important to me here and you'll be my friends no matter what. I just feel trapped, I can't explain it but I just have no enthusiasm for the people who make up the core of this world."

"What about Oliver?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, the one who turned tail and ran at the first hurdle. I think I can do without thanks." Hermione said.

"Its a really big decision if you go. Promise me you will think it over carefully." Ginny said.

"I will."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Hermione didn't want to get out of bed the next day, but she dragged herself to work all the same. She still hadn't unpacked her little bag from her trip. She didn't really want to face anything connected with it just yet.

Instead, she was determined to lose herself in her work. She still couldn't forgive herself for being so utterly stupid. She had actually enjoyed being there, enjoyed waiting for Lucius to come home, seeing him. Stupid, stupid girl, she told herself. Ginny had not taken it as badly as she feared. She still didn't want to tell Harry, although Ginny probably already had. Maybe no one would ever mention it again. That would probably be best.

Hermione walked to work this morning instead of just apparating. She felt the need to move and to get her head in order. Although when she got close to the Ministry, she apparated the last bit from an alley instead of using the operator.

When she got to her desk, it had been cleared out. Panic set in for a brief second before she realised that she didn't really care.

"You've been promoted." Mr. Jamson said with a large smile that actually looked a little cat like. "I knew all your hard work would be recognised. Well done, my girl. And to the Department of Legal Proceedings as well. A wonderful step for you."

Hermione had dreamed about this day, but now that it was here, she couldn't really get all that excited about it. Perhaps for the reason that she hadn't been recognised for her talents. At least not for any talents she wanted to be acknowledged for professionally. Hermione knew that this was Lucius' doing.

"And you have your own office. It even has a window." Mr. Jamson continued. "Well you better go. I'm sure they're expecting you. Chop, chop."

With that Hermione was practically pushed out the door. She had no idea where to go. She walked towards the Department of Legal Proceedings. God knew what her new job was. She just couldn't get excited about this and was more annoyed that her morning had been thrown into complete shambles.

She introduced herself to the snotty looking receptionist, who inadvertedly informed her that she was the new Registrar. Hermione didn't have any idea what that meant, but didn't want to ask. Instead she was pointed down one corridor and told her office was down there.

Her office was small and a little shabby, but what wasn't at the Ministry. It did have a window that hadn't been cleaned in years. What the hell does a Registrar do, Hermione thought to herself. She sat down in her new chair staring at the boxes on her desk which held her stuff. So this was her pay-off. Or maybe apology.

A man eventually came in and looked her up and down. "So you are a war hero?" He asked looking disappointed.

"It seems so." Hermione responded.

The man, who was her boss explained that she managed the Wizengamot processes, including scheduling the events, organising the attendees etc.

It was a good job, but she along with everyone else will know that she got it by sleeping with Lucius Malfoy. There was no way Hermione could reconcile with that.

"I quit." Hermione said. "I'm sorry, but I just have something else that's come up."

The man jaw dropped as Hermione picked up the boxes and left. When she made it down to the foyer, she dropped the boxes in a bin. On second thought, there was nothing worth keeping.

Hermione felt a load lift off her shoulders as she walked out the main doors of the Ministry. She hadn't anticipating feeling good at leaving the Ministry, but she did. It was a bit scary too. She had just turned her back on the plan for the last ten years. She guessed she was going to University after all. She hadn't even decided what to study. Maybe Biochemistry, Genetics. She might even get a doctorate like her parents. Doctor Hermione Granger. The last time she had contemplated a new title for herself, it was as Mrs. Weasley when she was twenty.

She would send a note to Ginny and Harry when she got home. For now, she had hours to kill and nothing to do. Maybe hop on the Internet at home and enrol for University. She was quite excited about being a student again, although she will miss having a bit of money in her account.

***

Hermione had spent the rest of the day reading up on her University options. She even looked at a couple in France. Australia was even an option.

Ginny dropped by for a bit asking if she was sure. Hermione felt good although she knew she would wake up in the middle of the night with a panic attack. For now, the excitement was buzzing in her mind. She wouldn't be turning her back on the wizard world completely, she told Ginny, just the horrible parts of it. The stifling culture at the Ministry, the awful purebloods and their society and the constant fear of change and progress.

In the afternoon an eviction letter was delivered to her by the building manager. He was very apologetic, but insisted that she needed to clear out by the end of next week.

Fine, thought Hermione, I can't afford the apartment now anyway. She would have to move into a student flat, or move in with her parents. They would love it, she would probably be crawling up the walls within a week. Not even getting evicted was dampening her mood, even if she had to live with her parents.

By that evening, she had even worked out her student loan application and had narrowed her University options down to two London based Universities. She would lodge her applications tomorrow.

Her dinner was interrupted by a knock on the door and it revealed Lucius when she opened it.

"Hell no." She said and slammed the door.

A crack behind her told her that he had apparated into her living room.

"You really should set up wards, anyone could get in." He said.

"What do you want?"

He didn't say anything, but stood there watching her. "You are having your dinner?" He finally said.

"As you see." Hermione responded. "Please leave."

"Not yet." He said, but made no further attempt to speak.

An awkward silence followed and Hermione didn't know what to do.

"You left your job at the Ministry." He finally said.

"It was time to move on."

"What are you going to do?" He said after a moment.

"Not that it is any of your concern, but I am going to go to University." Hermione said brightly.

"A muggle University?"

"Yes."

There was silence again. "My dinner is getting cold." Hermione finally said.

"I never intended on keeping you." Lucius said.

"What?" Hermione didn't understand what he was referring to you.

"I never intended on keeping you. After the solstice dinner."

"Then why did you?" Hermione asked.

"I just couldn't let go."

A further awkward silence followed.

"What was it you said. You made the world less cold and hard." He said quietly.

Hermione tried scratching her head to make the uncomfortable feeling go away. "What do you want me to say?" Hermione asked. "You were completely right, we don't belong together."

"Neither does Arthur and Molly Weasley, by any prevailing rules of our society." He said.

"Your society." Hermione said.

"So are turning your back on the wizarding world, then?"

"Isn't that was you always wanted." Hermione drawled with a bow.

"It wasn't my intention."

"From what you said, it has always been your goal to get rid of people like me." Hermione said. "It doesn't matter, my decision isn't about you."

"Isn't it?" He said.

"No, not really. Our... thing has highlighted something that had been building for a while."

Another silence followed.

"I want us to continue as we were." He said after a while.

"You mean, you blackmailing me into being your girlfriend? A bit harder now that you're not holding anything over me."

"I know that I am agreeable to you." He said, moving over to the window.

Hermione shifted a bit. Not the terms she would use, but it was true in some respects. Physically things were just fine, it was everything else that didn't work.

"We're not compatible on most levels." She said. "You are not the kind of man I ever envisioned seeing myself with. For example, I never saw myself with a man that had a dungeon. Maybe with someone with an unhealthy attachment to their Playstation, or even someone with a closet Startrek fetish, but not someone like you."

"I don't know what you're referring to."

"I know."

"It can be overcome." He said. "If you are set on studying, I can support you."

"I can support myself."

"If you need a place to stay, I have a large house. There are several rooms, you can have your own apartment."

"You haven't by any chance bought any real estate in my neighbourhood lately?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"I might have."

"Why?" Hermione started. "You are trying to manipulate me again. You can't keep doing that."

"I want you to live with me. Now you need somewhere to live. Don't make me pursue you Miss Granger, because you know I will."

Hermione was rubbing her forehead; her head was starting to ache again.

"Lucius," she started, "I'm twenty five. What I'm going to want, fairly soon probably, is a husband and children. Can you have children with someone like me?"

"No." He said looking into her eyes.

"There we are. The crux of it. Fundamentally incompatible. You are never going to be able to provide me with what I need. I won't go down any other route." Hermione said with forced smile.

He started to say something, but stopped. "I will leave you to finish your meal."

With that, he disapparated, leaving the flat empty and dark. Somehow it had gotten dark during their conversation and she hadn't noticed. Hermione had lost her appetite completely. She just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for a very long time. She had lost her anger and was now stuck with this horrible sadness instead. She tried to bring the anger back, at him for coming here and unloading this crap on her. He's not supposed to have feelings, and now he's made her responsible for them in a situation she can never put up with. Bastard.

She hoped like hell he wasn't going to pursue her, because she didn't know how hard her resolve would be. She knew if she gave in, she would get stuck there for a long time, getting out then would be so much harder. A clean break, best for everyone. Although it must have cost him a great deal to reveal his feelings, she acknowledged.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Hermione had now been studying at her University for three months. She was studying Science with a Major in Genetics. Her interest in genetics had started the moment she learned she was a witch, and she had quietly been musing over the concepts for many years now. Somehow she had managed to talk her supervisors into letting her skip most of the first year course and even a few of the second year. She was pretty happy that they let her skip some of the more basic stuff because sitting through a year of courses where she knew all the content would have been a bit boring. She still knew a lot of the content already, but there was room within the curriculum to study some of the things she didn't know, and some of the more recent developments.

She had tried living with her parents for a few weeks, but she moved out to keep her own sanity and to preserve the good relationship with her parents. Her means didn't stretch that far and she had to flat with three other girls she had met at Uni. The flat was alright. Nothing spectacular but much better than some of the other University flats she had seen, particularly some of the boys who tended to live in complete sties. That is where Ron would have lived if he had been a muggle university student. Instead he was now getting married to Lavender, she heard through Ginny. Hermione hadn't been invited to the engagement party or the wedding. Apparently having her around would make Lavender uncomfortable. Being excluded really stung, but she tried really hard not to dwell on it. Ginny thought they were being total gits about it, but there was nothing she could do.

Hermione loved University. It was full of interesting people, not to mention the library which covered seven stories. She didn't have trouble making friends either and would get invited out to the pub most weekends, and some weekdays. The girls in her flat were nice mostly. There was the odd quibble which arose, but generally they got on fine.

Her parents were really happy with her choice to go to University. They would call every few days to see how things were going and tell her about their University stories whenever she went around for dinner. The met at University.

The boys were cute. She didn't pay them that much attention in that way. Maybe she would if she didn't have to live with the infernal dreams. The ones she used to have. They were back every night. They weren't the shocking intrusion they used to be, now they tended to leave her a bit sad in the morning. She tried really hard not to think of him and was pretty successful during the days. Every night he was back, torturing her in a naked and gorgeous kind of way.

She tried even harder not to think about what was going on with him. She couldn't reconcile the fact that he wanted her and despised her at the same time. A total contradiction. They all were, the Malfoys. He was, Draco certainly was, even Narcissa who was nice to her even though she had been the one screwing her husband.

She really missed magic too. Ached for it sometimes and it seemed to be getting worse. Some days she would levitate things around her room, and other small spells just to feel the energy running through her, out her fingers and through her wand. A couple of her flatmates had seen her wand and completely believed her when she said it was an orchestral baton.

Thoughts of magic were starting in invade her thoughts in class too sometimes. She would remember the spells, charms and potions she had learnt at Hogwarts. But generally life was good, she was intellectually challenged and people were interested in what she had to say. This compared favourably to her time at the Ministry where she had often been dismissed as the eccentric mudblood.

*****

Hermione walked home from the bus stop one dark mid winter day. She shops were all decked out with their Christmas decorations in preparation for the holiday that was just a few days away.

When she got in the door, one of her flatmates passed her at the front door.

"There is a guy here to see you." She said. "I'm off. I'll see you after Christmas. Make sure everything is turned off before you go to your parents, yeah."

With that, she was gone as was the other two flatmates. The ones that shared a room, but Hermione didn't enquire.

Maybe her Dad was here, or maybe Harry. She would probably drop dead if it was Ron. But neither of them were in her living room, instead she was greeted by Draco's smug leer.

"So this is where you're living now?" He said. "Nice." He finished sarcastically.

"I'm a student Malfoy, we're supposed to live in abject poverty. Its a right of passage. What are you doing here?" Hermione said suspiciously.

"Just came to visit." He said, moving around the flat looking at the objects where were likely strange to him.

"State your business, Malfoy." Hermione said. She remembered a time before when they were alone but she wasn't picking up any vibes from him that she told her she should be concerned.

"My father," he said, "seems to miss you. Merlin knows why, but he's just not as... engaged now that you're gone."

"Not that its any of your business, Malfoy, but we have established that we are incorrigibly incompatible." Hermione said and pulled off her scarf.

"You didn't look incompatible."

"Well looks are just that, looks." She said.

Draco leaned back on the dining table, which no one ever ate at, and stared at her.

"He's not happy." Draco stated.

"He'll get over it." She said and sat down. After a moment of silence, she continued. "The age difference is too great. The social standing situation, I'm sure you can understand better then me. And we want fundamentally different things, things we can't compromise on."

There was silence for a little bit more. "You know it was never a real relationship, just a bit of an ... affair."

"All I know is that he was happy and now he's not." Draco said.

"Did he send you?" Hermione asked abruptly.

"No, of course not." Draco said. "Like he would." But Hermione's raised eyebrow made him concede, "Well, he would if that's what he wanted, but no, I don't like seeing him unhappy."

"I'm sorry, I can't help." Hermione said.

"Why?"

"Because I can't compromise on some things."

"Because he won't have children with you." Draco stated. "If its that important to you, I'll knock you up, Granger. It is after all my sole function in life." He said bitterly, "You could call me a professional."

"Uhmm..." Hermione started, "Well, that's sweet Malfoy, creepy and incredibly disturbing, but kind of sweet. Speaking of sweet, how is that fabulous fiancé of yours?" Hermione continued, desperate to change the subject.

He made a dismissive wave with his hand to signify that he didn't want to discuss her.

"I'm sure you can manage someone entirely more appropriate for your father to see." Hermione said.

"What would be the point of that?" Draco said sharply. "I want him to see you. If he sees you, which as you're aware is totally inappropriate, then when that blasted fiancé of mine has managed to squeeze out an heir, then I can divorce her and do as I want, and there would be precious little he can say about it."

Hermione gave a small chuckle and smiled. "Nice to see you have your priorities right, Malfoy."

"I don't want to live my life with a wife I despise, Granger. I don't want the best outcome for my life to be that I learn to tolerate the woman in my life. I know my parents never loved each other and I want more than that." Draco spat.

"I understand. I sympathise, really." Hermione said. "I feel the same about the wizarding world, Malfoy. My leaving wasn't about your father. You're going to have to find someone else inappropriate, I just can't."

Draco seemed to accept this and nodded. "Fine." He said. He gave a quick nod and then he was gone.

Hermione continued to sit where she was. She didn't know what to think. Either Lucius was really unhappy or Draco was a complete shit who only thought about himself. Maybe both. She couldn't really blame him though. She didn't envy the position he was in, but she couldn't give up her future to help him secure one he wanted. It wasn't her fault they were too chicken-shit to break with their own ridiculous traditions.

Although saying that, she did feel a bit more relaxed after seeing Draco when she had in a while, even though the topic was cringing. Odd.

***

Hermione spent Christmas with her parents. It was nice and sedate, but the ever present itch to feel magic was there, as was the dreams. The days rolled on and New Years was coming up.

Ron's marriage was also coming up in a few days. Both Harry and Ginny were busy preparing for the event. It still smarted a bit that she wasn't invited. Mrs. Weasley still blamed Hermione for the break up between her and Ron, and there had been tension between them ever since.

Her parents were invited out to a party tonight and Hermione had stayed befind. She didn't mind, but the wizarding world was strongly on her mind tonight. She couldn't understand why, there was nothing particularly attractive about it at the moment, but she itched for some magic. The uncomfortable feeling made Hermione decide to go for a walk. She walked through the streets and it was snowing slightly, it wasn't much and it melted under her boots as she walked. Her coat was keeping the chill off her, even though she was wearing a skirt.

It was fairly quite out, everyone was saving their energy for the big New Years parties tomorrow. After following her feet's desire for a while, she ended up in front of the Leaky Cauldron. Oh, she thought surprised. Why not, she said to herself as she decided to enter for a drink.

The pub was pretty quiet, but the atmosphere was very relaxing. She hadn't remembered it as being so calming before. She was going to order a butterbeer, but decided on something stronger. The bartender was annoyed that she only had muggle money, but he took it in the end. Hermione found a booth and sat down to nurse the dark liquid in her glass and to enjoy the fire a little further along. There was a copy of the Daily Prophet on the next table, but she didn't want to know. The bias and closed minded perspectives in it would only upset her. Instead she closed her eyes and just relaxed.

She ordered another drink when she'd finished the first and sat back again. There was a couple at the other end of the bar, in their wizarding robes, talking quietly between themselves. An older wizard was sitting at the bar, grumbling into his drink. Hermione decided that he might be a bit spell damaged, and she might stay clear of him.

"So, here you are." She heard an unsurprised drawl she knew behind her.

Lucius sat down in the booth seat opposite her. Hermione hadn't seen him in several months now. He looked the same, beautiful. Wearing his black robes, immaculately presented as always. She just stared at him for a while.

"How did you know I was here?" She said, surprised to see him.

"A little birdy told me." He said while taking off his gloved. "I knew you would turn up eventually."

Hermione didn't understand and gave him a questioning look.

"This is the crossing point between the wizard and the muggle world, it was only a matter a time before you showed up here." Lucius said.

Hermione could tell that there was something that she didn't know and her look of confusion was unmistakable. She was still so surprised to see him in the flesh.

"No one can stay away for long." He said. "Magic feeds on magic."

"What are you saying?" Hermione asked a little concerned, while watching his long fingers trace the rim of the glass he had been handed.

"You are magical, you are drawn here, to other magical people." He said. "You need us."

"Why, because this is where I belong? How can I belong and not belong at the same time?" Hermione said almost a little viciously.

"We don't know why it happens, but it does to all magical people. No one ever leaves. Not really. You can't leave completely either."

Hermione ordered another whiskey.

"So how are your studies?" He asked.

"Fine. More than fine actually. I love it."

"What are you studying?"

"Genetics."

"Sounds ominous. What does that entail?"

"It is the study of the make up of the human being. The blueprint to the body if you will."

"And what can you achieve by such study?" he asked.

"Understand how we work. Cure diseases, live longer. Such things."

"Everyone seeks immortality." He said.

That made Hermione smile, because it was true for both the wizarding and the muggle world.

"Draco came to see me." Hermione said.

"Is that right?" Lucius responded, clearly surprised. "And what did he want?"

"He seemed to think you missed me." Hermione responded.

There was a silence as Lucius took a swig of his drink. "I do."

"I explained that there were some severe compatibility issues." Hermione said.

He looked her in the eyes and the fire light seemed to dance over his features. She was getting tipsy and there were some precedents that things went sideways when she gets tipsy around him. She needed to slow down because the urge to reach out and touch him was playing on her mind. She would never, ever forgive herself if she gave in. Her whole future happiness depended on it.

"So I can't get away then?" She said.

"You are stuck with us to some extent."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Would you have believed me?"

"No."

"Maybe I'll just have to turn it off." Hermione said dismissively.

"Turn what off?"

"The magical part of me."

"That can be done?" Lucius asked.

"In theory, absolute years away to anything remotely practical." Hermione responded, but she realised that maybe she had made a mistake because she picked up on a distinct shift in pressure. Maybe telling him that its possible was not the smartest thing to do all things considered. It might be better if the magical community didn't know it was possible, even in theory. She hoped he would just dismiss it as some rambling of a drunk mudblood. How could she be so stupid to get drunk with him around, again. Granted he wasn't here when she started, but still, dumb.

"I have to go." She said and stood up.

Hermione went to leave, she was a little unstable, but good enough to walk. Before she reached the door, a spell hit her in the back and she blacked out.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Hermione slowly regained fleeting consciousness. She had no idea where she was, but she knew Lucius was carrying her. She knew his scent and she could feel the warmth of his body as he walked. Her mind wasn't working properly, she couldn't open her eyes or move a muscle, but at the moment, she was happy to stay where she was, in his arms. She could hear his steps as he walked, loud over the wooden floor and softly when he walked over the carpet.

"Father?" She could hear someone saying, Draco she realised. "Is that Granger?"

Lucius kept on walking and eventually placed her down on something softish.

"Have you lost your mind?" She could hear Draco saying. "You didn't just take her did you? Please tell me you haven't abducted her." He rambled. "I'm not having any part of this! I'm not going to prison again. She'll have you for this. Why can't you two just shag each other's brains out like normal people."

"Don't be tiresome, Draco." She heard Lucius say.

"I'm going to mother's." Draco yelled and left.

It was completely quiet now, but she could hear Lucius breathing sometimes. She felt a bit of moisture on her lips, which reminded her how parched her throat felt. She was growing conscious enough to know that something was wrong. She didn't feel in danger, but something was off.

"I can tell that you're awake." He said quietly. "Have some water, it will make you feel better."

He held a glass to her lips and she drank as much as he'd avail to her.

"What did you do to me?" She asked with her raspy throat.

"You have not been injured, but it will be a little while before you regain the full use of your limbs. We need to have a little chat. I have given you some Veritas Serum."

The last statement perked Hermione's consciousness up a bit.

"Did you just hex me?" Hermione asked, feeling a sense of panic building.

"I did."

"You can't do that. You can't just do what you want to people." Hermione yelled in what came out more like a whisper.

"Something you said concerned me."

"Then send an owl."

He was quiet for a bit. She couldn't hear him move anymore, so he must be sitting. She tried opening her eyes, but they wouldn't comply for more than a second. He was sitting in a chair some ways away from her. Still in his dark robes, looking forbidding.

"You were talking about turning off the magical part of your being."

Hermione sighed. She had been stupid enough to mention it around him, and her hope that he wouldn't have picked up on it obviously hadn't eventuated.

"I was hoping you would overlook that little slip." Hermione said. She hadn't intended to put it that way, but that's how it came out. Did he mention Veritas Serum, Hermione wondered.

"So it is possible?" He said slowly.

"As I said, in theory, it can't be done in reality." Hermione said, trying desperately to work around the Veritas Serum. Technically it was true.

"You said it could in some years."

"Maybe. If the magical genes are identified."

"And what are genes?"

"The details of the blueprint, the contract that is the body. They determine everything about you. Anything hereditary is genetic, like you hair."

Lucius was quiet for a while. He was mulling over what she said. Hermione tried to open her eyes again and knew what room she was in. She was at his manor, in the room she knew intimately.

"You brought me to the room I was tortured in." Hermione said and managed to keep her eyes open.

He didn't answer. He was regarding her calculatingly. This was a very different man from the one she knew. This was Deatheater Lucius. Cold, calculating and dangerous.

"And you are intending to find these genes?" He asked.

"Yes." Hermione responded but she didn't intend to. "Naturally, I have always been curious what makes me different from my family."

"And you can turn them off? Suppress them?" Lucius continued his questioning.

"I was only joking. My interest is in general genetics. Medicinal." It was a half truth, but she got away with it.

"But it can be done?"

"Yes." Hermione said. "In theory."

"And how would it be done in theory?"

"Depends on the nature of the genes, either suppressed, or cut out and replaced."

"And how would this be done."

Hermione didn't answer because she knew it would sound really bad.

"Just tell me Miss Granger, I would loath to make you, but I will if I have to."

Hermione was feeling a stronger sense of panic now. She knew the lengths he would go to fulfil what he saw as his duty.

"So you're interrogating me now. Am I an enemy now?"

"You're a very dangerous girl, Miss Granger." He said.

"No I'm not."

"Turning a wizard into a muggle has always been the greatest speculated weapon in our world. And now it turns out that you have it."

"No, I don't." Hermione said, fully realising where his mind was. "I have no intention of creating a weapon, and you know I am telling the truth."

"But you can."

"No, I'm just a first year student. I can't do anything."

"Yet."

Hermione didn't answer as she could only affirm.

"So what am I supposed to do with you? Hmm. You bring me the biggest threat our world could face."

"And you are its constant defender, beating up little girls in its preservation." Hermione challenged.

"I have never beaten you, Miss Granger, but this is very serious. I cannot overlook this development."

"Always doing your duty, aren't you?" She said.

"How can these genes be suppress or removed?"

Hermione might as well tell him. It was all public knowledge anyway which he could find pretty easily in the nearest library or bookstore if he tried. She wasn't an enemy after all, so why hide anything. Maybe it was time they realised that there were some things going on in the muggle world that they need to pay attention to.

"The most effective way is delivery, I believe, is through a retrovirus. It is a virus, like a cold that leaves genetic changes behind. They can be programmed to what code to leave behind. In theory."

"So you could catch a cold and lose your magical abilities? And this change is permanent?"

"Yes, probably. I don't know, I'm just a student starting out."

"And what am I supposed to do with this?"

"There is nothing you can do. This is happening, I didn't make this happen. I'm not responsible for it or able to control it. I'm just following the development."

"And the muggles can do this?"

"Yes. Well no. They are starting to, but they aren't looking for ways to destroy wizarding communities."

"So you are saying that secrecy is more important than ever?" He said, but he was talking to himself. Hermione was impressed by how fast his mind moved. He always seemed to jump ahead in the implications.

"Yes, it is only a matter of time before they discover than there are persons with other genes that they will seek to explain and they may well stumble across magical genes. Genetic information is increasingly used for all sorts of purposes. They will find the magical genes eventually."

"How would they ever know if only magical people have them?"

"Because all the squibs have them too and who knows how many of them there are. People like me don't just appear out of thin air, there is a genetic component that comes from somewhere, and that somewhere is present, whatever it looks like, within the non magical population. And keeping the two completely segregated isn't possible."

He thought for a while. Hermione could see him turning over the implications in his head. God, he was beautiful she thought.

"A charm could hide it from the muggles?" He asked.

"Maybe. I was thinking along those lines, but there is no way of knowing until we find the genes. If the muggles find them and work out what they are then we are either going to have no wizards or around 6 billion." Hermione said.

"Why have you never mentioned this?" Lucius asked slightly annoyed.

"I have. I've mentioned it repeatedly when I worked at the Ministry, but no one is interested in some obscure muggle science. I'm just some irrelevant mudblood, remember."

He thought for a moment longer. His index finger gently tapping on the cane next to him.

"And now we are dependent on you to find this gene, so we can develop a way of hiding it." He said more to himself than to her.

Hermione breathes a sigh of relief. She had managed to convince him that her doing what she was doing was a good thing, and that she wasn't out developing a weapon to destroy them all. She hoped anyway. If she was successful, he would have to let her go to carry on as she was.

"So we need to put our faith in a muggleborn who despises us." He mused cooly.

She wanted to say that she didn't despise the wizard world, but the words just wouldn't come out. She did in so many ways. "I've never intended the wizarding world any harm." She did manage. It was true, she may not want to be a part of it to the extent she had been, but she certainly didn't want it gone.

"But you don't mean us well either." He said. "You could so easily walk away."

"Apparently I can't." Hermione returned. "As you so kindly informed me, I need you or I get the itchy creepies."

"Unless you manage to turn it off, as you said."

"It was a throwaway comment." Hermione said.

"You have already shown that you are prepared to walk away from our world. Getting rid of magical genes would be in your best interest. It would actually be a benefit to you if the whole magical world was wiped out."

"That's ridiculous, my best friends are magical. I would do anything in my power to protect them!"

"Would you?"

"You're the one who gave me the Veritas Serum, you know I am telling you the truth."

"That does not ensure your sentiments will stay beyond this moment."

"You're just going to have to trust me. I promise, I will find the gene and I will help find some way to hide it."

"So you think I should just let you walk away and hope you return one day with the answers we need?" Lucius asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not something special. Anyone can go learn about this stuff."

"I'm not entirely convinced that is true." He said.

That was a compliment, Hermione thought. She wasn't sure it had been intended, but it was. She watched as he mulled things over. A small smile spread across his lips. He had reached some conclusion about what he was going to do. Hermione hated being at the mercy of his conclusions.

"No. We need you. You may be the only one who can perform this vital function to protect our world." He said and slowly stood up. He moved over to the sofa/daybed she was lying in.

"We have to make sure you stay true. We cannot risk losing you or to let you go in the hopes that you will someday return."

"What, in a keep your friends close and your enemies closer kind of way? That's not exactly going to work. You can't keep me here, I need to learn how to do this and that can only happen in the muggle world."

"A very apt saying, if I say so myself. But we must find some way to bind you to the wellbeing of this world." He said, "To me."

"So this is your job now, to keep tabs on me. Make sure I don't get distracted." Hermione said, feeling very uncomfortable as he rested his hand on her knee. The touch was sending reverberations up her leg and into her abdomen. She started to sit up, but the pressure in his hand kept her where she was.

"I'm not prepared to leave this to anyone else. Do you love me?" He asked.

"Yes." What, no. Damn Veritas Serum. I do? Really? Hermione's mind was working furiously.

"Good." He said. "Then binding you here won't be difficult."

He started running his hand up under her skirt, up her thigh. Oh you bastard, Hermione thought. The touch was making her breath catch in her throat. He was going to seduce her. He had reached the edge of her panties and was tracing he edge. She needed to get out of here, but she couldn't make herself move. She could kid herself and say it was the leftovers of whatever hex he had used on her, but that would be a lie. Her body was aching for his touches. Oh fuck, Hermione thought.

"No charms tonight." He said and pulled out his wand. He did some wordless spell and Hermione felt a tingling in her stomach.

Oh God, Hermione thought. He is completely serious. This is wrong. She can't go along with this. He completely admitted he was doing this to keep control over her. These are the wrong intentions, she thought. He is supposed to give up his stupid pureblood ideals, not sacrifice himself on some alter of duty to the cause.

"I will protect you. Support you. Give you anything you might want or need. I will give you a stable home, where you will raise our children, while you do your work in rectifying this threat to our society." He spoke softly as he pulled her underwear down her legs. Somewhere he had lost his outer robes. He leaned over her and pulled her hips towards him in the process.

"Do you want this?" He asked as he leaned in to kiss her. Hermione could feel his breath on her lips as he spoke, and the light sensation was making her lose her grip.

"Yes." What, wait, her mind screamed. This is serious, this is for keeps. This is wrong. It is everything you want, but the intentions are wrong. She knew he wanted her, and missed her, maybe even loved her.

The deep kiss was filling every one of her senses and her mind just couldn't compete. Her body needed his so badly at the moment and whatever concern her analytical mind had were just not capable of making themselves heard against this onslaught of sensation. She arched up to get closer contact with him. She needed him inside her. She had never admitted the ache she felt for him in the last months.

Her nerve endings exploded when he entered her and the tension that had built up in her body was overwhelming. She had lost all sense of where she was but his deep groan was resonating through her entire being. She strained to get closer as he moved in and out of her. She was starting to come and the intensity was like nothing she had ever experienced before. I was made for this, her mind managed. One last deep thrust and he was coming inside her. She existed in the sensation and somewhere in her addled mind, she knew that he was leaving a part of himself behind in her, which satisfied some base instinct she had never been aware of before.

Hermione was completely spent and could barely move as his weight was bearing down on her. He was recovering his breath and kissing her gently on the side of her neck. She didn't want him to move and he stayed put for a while before shifting off her. He kept his hand on her waist as he sat up.

No one had ever been inside her with intent before. Hermione thought she'd be panicked and scared at this point, but she wasn't. She felt calm and secure. She felt like as was as it should be. She knew her mind would strongly disagree but was happy for it to be sedated for a moment. They might be cheating the way it was supposed to be, but at the moment she just saw it as fortuitous. She didn't think anyone could make her feel like he did and that had to count for something. Maybe everything.

"If there is a child," Hermione started, "its not going to be a pureblood."

"I am aware." He said. "I am hardly going to reject my own child. I'm not quite so heartless. I will deal with it, Hermione."

It was the first time he had ever called her by her first name.

"This is your home now." He said and looked down on her. "Come, I will show you to bed."

Hermione smiled and sighed. Not the day she had anticipated when she woke up this morning, she had a fairly good idea what she would be doing tomorrow though.

***

The End.


End file.
